Journey of the Potters
by amethystdreamstar
Summary: Instead of just having Harry, Lily and James Potter had 2 children, Harry and his sister Journey Potter. This has a huge impact on the wizarding world as we know it, along with its saviour.
1. Chapter 1: James and Lily Potter

**Summary: Instead of just having Harry, Lily and James Potter had 2 children, Harry and Journey Potter. This has a huge impact on the wizarding world as we know it, along with its saviour.**

**If you don't want me to spoil any parts of what might be happening in my fic, skip all the bolded parts until you get to the title, but if you want to know what type of fic I plan on writing before you read it, then read on.**

**Yes this is another Harry-Potter-with-a-twin, but I hope that this can be different than anything that's been read before. There will be no 'wrong-twin-who-lived' and Harry is still the Boy-Who-Lived. **

**Dumbledore will be manipulative in this story, so if that's not your cup of tea then please turn back rather than read this and flame me for it.**

**I will mostly follow the books, with the obvious exceptions in some cases since I added a whole other character. In these cases I most often will follow book information or general timelines, as there were several happenings in the books not in the movies that I'll try to keep in. In some cases though I may end up taking some elements from the movie, so be warned :P **

**On that note, I don't know if I will be using horcruxes yet, I used to hate the idea of them but I've recently read some fics that used them in very interesting ways, and they've slowly changed my mind about them. Whether or not I will use them however, is up for debate (and I don't really need to worry about them for a couple of years anyways)**

**This chapter is just under 5,000 words, and I think the next will hopefully be around the same, but hopefully they will gradually get longer, that is, if you guys want them to be.**

**I don't know if I've forgotten anything, but if I have I'll mention them in the next chapter or as they come up.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.**

"talking"

'_thoughts'_

**Journey of the Potters**

**Chapter 1: James and Lily Potter**

"Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Potter, you have two healthy babies, with the girl only weighing slightly less than the boy. We put an extremely weak sleeping charm on them that should wear off very soon so that their body could become adjusted to being in the outside world without being conscious to feel the effects."

Lily Potter smiled tiredly as the short, brown haired healer passed her a small bundle of powder-blue blankets, _'my baby boy,'_ she thought. She delicately moved the blankets around the baby's face so that she could look for the first time upon her sleeping son. The very thought made her smile even more radiantly, _'my son.'_

James Potter shared a smile with his wife from where a different healer had just handed him another bundle-wrapped baby, this time however the blankets were a soft pink and contained his sleeping daughter. When the healer seeing to his wife moved away from the bed and packed up his bag, he quietly walked over to her, his eyes never straying from her positively glowing form. He sat down in the chair that one of the healers conjured for him and brought his daughter-he nearly giggled in delight at the thought-closer to his beautiful wife.

Lily smiled at her husband briefly before looking at her daughter for the first time, mentally comparing the differences between her two children. Her son had black hair, _'just like James,'_ whereas her daughter had her own fiery red hair along with a smattering of freckles across her nose that her son lacked.

Lily looked up at her husband just as he leaned over to give her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "They're beautiful," he whispered, finally breaking the silence that had fallen upon them before saying so quietly that she barely heard him, "they're perfect."

Before Lily could respond the brown haired healer came up to them and said quietly, "we have their birth certificates, along with the _Muggle_ ones you asked for. You just need to sign their names onto them and sign them yourselves so that we can make copies of them and send them to the ministry."

Lily shared a look with her husband before turning to the healer, "could you give us a minute please?" Understanding passed through the man's brown eyes and he went over to a blonde secondary female healer who was still cleaning up. Lily turned back to her husband, "well it seems that even after nine months of arguing, we still don't have any names for them," just as he was about to say something Lily interrupted him, "and no we are not naming our son James Jr. so forget it."

James harrumphed but smiled anyways, "okay Lils, so long as we can make his middle name James then I'm fine. How about we name him Harry after your father?"

Lily's eyes filled with tears at the reminder of her dearly beloved father who was murdered several months ago. "I would love that," she whispered softly while looking down at her daughter. She thought for several moments on a name but kept drawing blanks. They both thought they were having only one child, which was to be a boy, so they never thought of any possible girl names.

At that moment, the baby in question opened her eyes to look up at her mother and Lily smiled, _'she's got my eyes.'_ Lily was about to point this out to James when something caught her attention that made her pause. Looking more intently into her daughters eyes Lily realized that they had small flecks of gray-no silver in them, _'like having mercury in her eyes,'_ she thought.

Lily turned to her husband and said "Mercury" at the same time he said "Journey." They both looked at each other before smiling. James was about to agree with his wife-after all he did get to name their son-when she smiled at him and said, "Journey sounds lovely. I like the sound of Journey Potter better than Mercury Potter anyways, how about Journey Mercury Potter and Harry James Potter?"

James beamed at his wife, before looking towards the two healers, who instantly stopped talking. The previous healer walked up to James and handed him several papers to sign and an ever-lasting ink quill, before conjuring up a small table for them to write on.

Lily took the papers after her husband had signed his name and the babies' names. Lily quickly read them through since she knew James never would have thought to.

**Name: Harry James Potter**

**Date of Birth: July 31****st**** 1980 11:52 pm**

**Location of Birth: Godric's Hollow**

**Father: James Potter**

**Mother:**

They used their house at Godric's Hollow to have the babies simply because it was too risky because of the war to head over to St. Mungo's without apparating, which is a horrible way to travel while pregnant since the possibility of splinching the baby was very risky. Lily signed her name and watched as the paper instantly rose into the air and copied itself. One of the copies disappeared-presumably to the ministry-and the other flew towards the healer's waiting hand. Lily blinked and turned back to the second paper.

**Name: Journey Mercury Potter**

**Date of Birth: August 1****st**** 1980 12:08 am**

**Location of Birth: Godric's Hollow**

**Father: James Potter**

**Mother:**

Lily signed her name again and the duplication process repeated itself while she signed the Muggle copies. She wanted Muggle copies simply because she herself had them and she wanted to keep in touch with that part of her heritage, and because if anything happened to her and James… _'no don't think like that.'_

The last two papers flew over to the healer just as the door burst open and several people came though led by a good looking man with wavy black hair and mischievous gray eyes, Sirius Black. The healers tutted at him but he paid them no mind and walked, more like skipped, into the room and spoke in a very excited voice, "where's my Prongslet?"

Lily was sure that James' smile was going to split his face in half as he spoke with joy, and not a small amount of pride, "more like Prongslet_s_," indicating to the both babies who were now both awake.

Sirius tripped over thin air when he saw both babies but caught himself on the bedpost. Everyone laughed at him and even the babies gurgled happily. Remus Lupin, a tired looking brown haired man with amber eyes that narrowed after chuckling bit as he walked into the room. Lily frowned when she noticed that Peter wasn't there, but then figured that he must be on a mission and put it aside. Remus looked at both of the babies and said softly, "Congratulations to both of you. Not to spoil such a joyous occasion, but how could the tests have been wrong? It's never been heard of before for a healer scans to be incorrect in either the gender of the baby or number of babies."

Lily frowned for a moment in thought, and even Sirius took a moment to look contemplative. The head healer cleared his throat drawing attention to himself before saying nervously, "we are unsure as well and have already starting compiling information to be presented to the research department, with your permission of course," receiving nods from both Potters he continued, "we will contact you if we find anything but at this moment in time we can only speculate how this happened. There are two papers on the table there that are for you and the children's godparents to sign, which will copy themselves and go to the ministry." With this he nodded to the Potters, then to the other people in the room before exiting the room, the secondary healer following behind him.

Following his exit the last occupant in the room, a slightly taller than average man with short black hair and a pudgy face, stepped out away from the door and spoke, "Congratulations. Alice would have come but she was too tired even with pepper up potions. Neville was sleeping when I left and I didn't have the heart to try and make him go through the floo after being only a day old."

Chuckles greeted Frank Longbottom's statement before Lily cleared her throat, "well since the healer brought it up, we might as well decide godparents. Sirius, James and I wanted you the be the godfather for Harry even before he was born if that's okay with-"

Lily stopped speaking when Sirius looked at James with tears in his eyes. Looking between the two of them, you could see how they weren't just best friends or even brothers, the connection they shared went beyond the bond of brotherhood. Lily didn't have a name for what they shared, but she knew that it almost rivalled what she and James had-without the physical attraction or anything of that nature-and she knew that James would die for either one of them.

Lily smiled as she watched Sirius walk over to James and pull him into a crushing embrace, well as crushing as he could without harming his godson. "Thank you," he whispered fiercely and Lily strongly suspected that a few tears had fallen but didn't say anything not wanting to break their moment. Sirius pulled away from James and looked into the face of his godson for the first time. Before Lily could do anything, James handed baby Harry to Sirius, showing his deep trust in his best friend. Sirius gently stroked Harry's cheek, his gray eyes full of wonderment. "He's got your eyes Lily," he whispered.

Lily smiled at him before turning to James, "would you like to hold your daughter?" Before she had even finished the sentence James was at her side and gently taking Journey from her arms. She smiled as Harry gurgled happily in Sirius' arms and Journey snuggled into her father. After watching the interaction for a few moments she turned back to Remus and Frank, who were also watching the interactions with smiles on their faces. "Frank?"

Frank slowly tore his eyes away from the sentimental scene in front of him and looked at her before asking, "Yes Lily?"

"Before we ended up having twins," Lily began while figuring out how to word this without offending Remus, "we were going to ask Alice to be the godmother but since we have two babies now I was wondering if both of you would be godparents to Journey? Remus we would have asked you but the ministry-"

Remus smiled at her, "don't worry about it Lily, the fact that you considered me, even with my _condition_ is more than enough."

Frank walked up to Lily and laid his hand upon hers, "we'd be honoured to be Journey's godparents." Looking into Frank's brown eyes Lily saw tears threatening to spill and she smiled back at him. Pushing on despite the tears threatening to fall Frank continued, "Alice wanted to ask you if you'd be the godmother for Neville, but she couldn't make it so she asked me to ask you in her stead."

Lily couldn't help the tears that came to her eyes when she responded, "I'd love to."

All the now-named godparents signed the documents (Lily signed the one the Frank had brought with him just in case she said yes) and just as the last copy disappeared to the ministry, the door opened again unexpectedly. Everyone sharply turned to the door, and those who had their wands with them were in the process of drawing them mid-turn when they realized that the man in the doorway was none other than Albus Dumbledore in neon green robes with dancing snitches on them and a tall pointed hat.

Lily frowned, _'it's rather odd of Dumbledore to be here, he never went to any of the other Order's member's after they had their children, not that I'm aware of anyways. What's he doing here?'_

Dumbledore smiled in a grandfatherly way and pulled out a wrapped mint from his pocket, "mint anyone?"

James and Sirius both hurried over to Dumbledore and took several mints each, while everyone else responded with a "no professor." When Sirius came close to him Dumbledore looked at the boy in his arms curiously, "so this is your son?"

James smiled proudly, "Yes that is Harry James Potter, and this here," he indicated to the baby in his arms, "is Journey Mercury Potter."

Dumbledore spared a brief glance and a jovial, "so they got the scans wrong did they?" at Journey before going back to observing Harry. No one else seemed to notice this strange fixation he had on Harry, but it made Lily feel uneasy for some reason. _'Why is he taking such an interest in Harry?'_ Looking around again at everyone, she caught Frank's eye and realized that he too noticed this and found it odd. Lily realized that the same thing could have happened with Neville.

Dumbledore was interrupted from his observations when Harry sneezed right in Dumbledore's face, and got snot right on his glasses. Everyone laughed at this including Dumbledore as he took off his gasses to wipe them off. When he was finished he turned to Sirius and said, "I need to have a word with James, Lily and Frank alone if that's okay."

Sirius started to protest but Remus beat him to it, "Okay Professor. Let's go Sirius."

Sirius pouted but reluctantly handed over the now-sleeping Harry to Lily. As the door was closing on his way out, Lily heard him say, "how come _Frank_ gets to stay and not us?"

Dumbledore popped another mint into his mouth, but his smile was slowly fading, making him look much older than he already did. He turned to Frank and said in a surprisingly sad voice, "you may want to pull up a chair for this Frank."

The three of them shared looks, but Frank did what was recommended and summoned a red leather recliner and sat down in it. James looked at his plain wooden chair then at Frank's before whispering, "prat."

Dumbledore smiled faintly-apparently he heard that-before it quickly diminished again into the previous sad, aged look. He quickly put up several wards to prevent eavesdropping (Lily heard Sirius curse before the last one went up) before turning back to the three other people in the room. He gravely began to say the words that Lily just knew was going to change all of their lives altogether, "I hate that I have to say this, and I wish I could spare you all of this, but some things cannot be helped they say.

Earlier this month, when I was interviewing a potential divination professor, she made a prophecy, pertaining to the downfall of Lord Voldemort. The prophecy goes like this: _'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches … born to those who thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies … '_"_*****_

Lily could barely hear Frank's gasp or James' stuttered, half-formed questions over the pounding of her own heart, _'my babies…'_ He head pounded rapidly as her mind put together numerous in several milliseconds, _'Severus joined right after he was hired-or rather that was _why_ he was hired last year-which means he would have heard the prophecy…that means he was the one who gave Voldemort the 'valuable information' …he knew he would come after me…that's what upset Dumbledore so much and made him increase the Order's activities…to keep me and Alice safe...that's why he would watch us so closely after he found out we were both having boys…he was watching out for the safety of the prophecy…for his weapon!'_

Anger swelled within Lily, but it was quickly replaced by fear a few moments later, _'he's going to go after my babies! The prophecy may be a load of bull but Voldemort won't take any possible chances…the prophecy was referring to a boy but even then both of my precious babies will be in danger! They aren't even an hour old and already their life hangs by a thread…'_

Dumbledore cleared his throat, bringing Lily's attention back to him. He looked at them all sadly and spoke gravely, "while I do not know if the prophecy will come to pass, Voldemort has already come to know part of the prophecy," Lily nodded her head in confirmation to what you already knew but James and Frank looked thunderstruck, "He does not know all of it, but he knows enough that he will know that it refers to either young Neville or Harry. He will more than likely come after them, which is why I had asked you to keep your pregnancies secret so that he would have less time to go after you specifically. However now the documents are in the ministry and he will find them and come after all of you so that the potential threat to his power is eliminated."

Lily couldn't help it, tears poured down her face. She cried tears for her children, who were going to be the target of a very powerful insane man, no monster. She cried for the fact that they were even living in times like these, where no end was in sight and the chances of them ever living a normal childhood were likely zero. She cried because she knew, deep down inside, that she would likely never see her children grow up either because Voldemort would kill them, or because she would be killed protecting them. She cried tears for her family, even Petunia and her horrid husband, for all the losses they had suffered and were still suffering. But most importantly, she cried tears for her children, who were likely never going to know their parents and were going to be among the hundreds of children who were missing one or both of their parents.

Looking around she noticed that Frank and James were both crying as well, even Dumbledore shed a tear before speaking again, "It is my suggestion, though I loath to say it, but I think that both of your families should go into hiding, preferably under the Fidelius Charm."

James was the first to respond, "Absolutely not. We are needed, you know this Dumbledore. We are losing fighters, fast, and you need everyone you can get." Frank nodded in response.

Dumbledore sighed, "I know that you believe this, but if one of your children are really the only way that Lord Voldemort will be defeated, then it is better for everyone if they are protected."

Lily huffed, her previous anger returning, "so we are just going to trust a prophecy that has less than a five percent chance of coming true? We are going to make children, who are not even a day old, fight the worst monster that the wizarding world has seen in a hundred years?" She would have gone on but Dumbledore interceded.

"Of course not Lily," he said in a grandfatherly tone, a tone she did not trust for one minute, "I am just saying that Voldemort believes the prophecy so we should not put you or your children in unnecessary danger."

Lily knew that Dumbledore wasn't being completely truthful or thinking entirely in their best interest, but he did raise a good point. Before she could say anything Frank spoke up, "how about we think about it?"

Dumbledore nodded, "that's all I can ask for," Lily barely restrained a snort, she knew the Dumbledore would endlessly badger them until they caved into his request, or they told him exactly where to shove it in a very public manner. She'd seen Mad-Eye Moody do the other day when Dumbledore kept asking him to stand guard outside a low risk safe house, a safe house that was currently completely empty.

Dumbledore continued speaking, breaking Lily out of her thoughts, "well I must get back to headquarters, I really am sorry to have dropped this onto you, but please think about going into hiding. If you wish I myself will be the secret keeper for both of you. Well then," he said as he popped another mint into his mouth, "hopefully you will all be able to have a restful morning," and with that he turned and strode out the door where Lily could faintly hear Sirius and Remus still arguing.

Despite all that had happened James was still able to snort and whisper, "restful morning my arse."

Lily couldn't agree more.

A year and several months later, Halloween to be exact, Lily and James were sitting in the living room after having just put the twins to bed. They had eventually agreed to go under the Fidelius Charm-as had the Longbottoms-and were using Peter Pettigrew as their secret keeper and Sirius as the decoy. They visited the Longbottoms once a month, and saw Sirius and Peter every other week. They didn't see Remus anymore since he had started to become withdrawn and Peter was afraid that he'd switched sides with all the promises Voldemort was giving werewolves.

Dumbledore had stopped by twice, to put up the charm and then on the twins birthday, and both times he had looked at Harry in ways that gave Lily-and James once she told him her suspicions and he started putting things together- the creeps. Both of their children were in danger and yet Dumbledore only ever focused on Harry, which infuriated Lily to no end. She kept quiet though, knowing that she would not be able to make a difference about how one of the most powerful wizards operates.

Speaking of powerful wizards…

"Harry and Journey are both going to be very powerful one day," she said to James with a hint of pride.

James put down the paper he was reading with a big grin, "I know. Did you see the way that Harry summoned that chocolate today from across the room? Or the way Journey changed his hair pink after he took her chocolate? Journey is going to have my talent in transfiguration I tell you."

Lily smiled, "just like Harry will be good in charms. I wonder if either of them will be good in potions like me? Or maybe they'll be good at ancient runes or defense or-"

Lily was cut off when James laughed at her, "Lils I'm sure that they'll both be brilliant, they have two of the brightest students to ever pass through Hogwarts as parents! And 4 Marauder 'fathers'…"

Lily rolled her eyes at James first proclamation, then narrowed them when he said the second, "you will not be teaching either of our children any pranks. Do you underst-"

She was cut off by a shrill scream from upstairs, followed by two loud wailings. Both Potters stood up in a millisecond and were halfway up the stairs before the scream had even finished. They barged into the nursery to see both the babies in one crib, crying their little hearts out. She ran to the crib, a little confused how Harry got out of his but decided to think about it later, and grabbed Journey, hugging her tightly, just as James grabbed Harry and did the same.

Harry started to calm down but Journey was still wailing. Lily rocked her, sang a lullaby and even tickled her, but nothing worked. She loosened her hold so that she could look into Journey's eyes…and nearly dropped her in surprise.

Journey's eyes had turned almost completely silver, with only flecks of green here and there. When Journey saw that she had her mom's undivided attention, she started to make sounds, no words Lily realized, words that startled and scared Lily.

"mumma …" – hiccough- " bad man … red eyes … scary…" –hiccough- "…green light … mumma sleeping …"

Lily looked at James in surprise and fear, to see the same look directed right back at her. Not knowing what to do, she turned back to Journey and said soothingly, "it's okay Journey, there is no bad man, mummy will protect you." With these words, Journey seemed to be somewhat calmer, and the silver started to fade from her eyes, before they were almost completely green again with only small flecks of silver.

Lily placed Journey in the crib, who then started reaching for Harry, so James put Harry down in the same crib, "just for one night," he said before turning back to Lily for permission. Lily smiled shakily and nodded, before turning and heading out of the room.

As she walked down the stairs Lily thought about what her daughter had said, _'Red eyes…that can only mean Voldemort, but why would Journey dream of him? And the green light…was that the killing curse? I don't think Journey saw me sleeping if that's what it was…"_

Lily continued to mull over her thoughts as she sat down on the couch. James came in behind her and sat the couch with her, wrapping his arms around her. "It'll be okay Lils, it was just a dream."

Lily turned to him, "I don't understand it though, Journey has never even heard the name Voldemort mentioned, not even as You-Know-Who or the Dark Lord. How could she have thought that up as a dream? And the green light? There is only one type of spell that is green that Voldemort would use, and she saw me…" tears started to form in her eyes.

James hugged Lily fiercely, "it's okay Lily, nothing is going to happen, we're safe here."

Lily hugged James just as fiercely, "I love you," she whispered.

Tears started to form in James' eyes as well as he whispered, "I love you too, you, Journey and Harry. You are the lights of my world."

Just then a tremendous bang was heard outside the house. Both Potters quickly stood up with their wands drawn. Comprehension dawned on James, "Peter betrayed us, he's the spy," he whispered. Lily's eyes widened. James turned to Lily who was backing away from the door in fear, "LILY IT'S HIM!" he shouted, "TAKE THE KIDS AND RUN!" Lily looked about to deny him at first, but at the mention of her children nodded slowly, tears streaming down her face. She ran up to James and kissed him fiercely, likely for the last time. James kissed her back just as passionately, tears spilling out of his closed eyelids as he tried to pour all of his love, passion and every bit of his being into his last kiss. It lasted only a few seconds, but to them it seemed like a lifetime and a millisecond all at once.

Another blast forced James to pull away, "LILY GO!" he shouted, "I'LL HOLD HIM OFF! TELL THE KIDS I LOVE THEM!"

They held eye contact for what seemed like forever, taking in every bit of the love of their life that they could, before Lily forced herself to look away. She turned away from her husband, even though every part of her was demanding to turn around and fight side by side with him to the end, and ran up the stairs to the two other most important people in her life, the ones she actually had a chance at saving.

James watched his wife run up the stair, heard his wailing children who had awoken from the attack on the house, and felt as if his soul was being ripped out and going with his wife. Every fibre of his being was telling him to go after her, but he knew what he was doing was right. He knew that he would not survive this encounter, but only hoped that he would buy his wife and children, his lights in this dark time, time to escape. If he could do that, then he could go into the afterlife and meet his parents and ancestors with pride, knowing that he defended his family to the end, so that they could live. It would be worth it. His life was worth it.

James faced the door, wand drawn and waited.

*** **Taken from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, page 741

**amethystdreamstar: So whatcha think? I would really love any reviews you guys could give me, even if it's just to criticize it. If that's all you are going to do, please don't just go raving on and on about how bad you think it is with nothing constructive. If you think it's bad, give me a reason and I'll see what I can do about it. Other than that I'd love to know what you guys think.**

**Also, I don't have a beta (as you can probably tell), but if someone was willing to be my beta, send me a message. If you guys think my fic is so bad that it's not even worth a beta, then well, I guess I'll work on my own then.**

**This is just the first chapter (obviously) so there will (hopefully) be much more to come! :D**

**Also, I plan on updating once a week, which I think is pretty reasonable, unless something comes up or life gets in the way.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Killing Curse

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.**

**I don't know how to write how Hagrid speaks, and I don't want to butcher it while attempting, so I am just going to write it normally. Please don't be too angry with me.**

"talking"

'_thoughts'_

'_**written words**__'_

**Chapter 2: The Killing Curse**

James didn't have to wait long. Not long after he stopped hearing Lily's footsteps, the front door crashed open and slammed into the opposite wall. James tensed and subconsciously dropped into his usual duelling position. He knew this wouldn't be a duel, this would be him holding off Voldemort for as long as he could so that his family could escape.

Voldemort, in his white-skinned black robbed glory, stepped through the large gaping hole where there door used to be. James summoned up his legendary Gryffindor courage and looked Voldemort straight in the eye and said, "you're just as ugly as I remember you to be."

Blood red eyes widened in fury before Voldemort laughed, a high-pitched, spiny-chilling laugh that was not in any way filled with mirth. No, he laughed because he knew that James didn't have a chance, he was a pesky fly to be swatted. His pathetic attempts amused him, in the same way a spider is amused by a fly trying to escape its net once caught.

He stopped laughing when James threw a heart-crushing curse, which he deflected easily. "Well, well, well," Voldemort smirked, "seems likes golden-boy Potter isn't as light as everyone thinks. Are you sure you don't want to join my ranks? Your talents would be valuable and I would even spare your family, being the generous master that I am."

Voldemort was lying of course, he had every intention of killing the Potter boy, no matter what he said that's what would happen. Yes, he would spare the others, maybe, but the boy would die regardless.

James knew that Voldemort was lying, but for a split second, he considered it. _'If my family could survive…'_ He immediately felt sick for having even considered it. He knew that Voldemort was lying, yet he still almost fell for it! What kind of man does that? _'A man who's desperate,'_ his mind supplied. He knew that to be true, he was desperate, but he would never join Voldemort, ever.

James narrowed his eyes, "go to hell," he snarled.

Voldemort chuckled, "that is really too bad, the Death Eaters would have loved to have had your Mudblood, Lily was it? Yes they would have loved to have had Lily around, she really is quite fetching for a –"

He was cut off when James started sending a barrage of spells his way, and he actually had to concentrate enough that he couldn't hold a conversation any longer. _'Well,' _he thought, _'if Potter wants to die, who am I to deny him?'_

They duelled for several minutes, destroying large portions of the living room-kitchen area. James took the worse of it, holding a broken arm and a bleeding shoulder, but he held his ground.

Voldemort was infuriated, they'd been duelling for over ten minutes, and he'd yet to kill Potter. Just as he was about to start sending only Killing Curses, Potter landed a grazing spell on his arm. It wasn't anything huge by any means, just a small superficial cut, but Voldemort could see his own blood slowly seeping out of the cut.

Fury coursed through the Dark Lord, _'how dare he?'_ Never in all the times he had come out to the world as Lord Voldemort had he been injured in a duel, yet the upstart blood-traitor had the gall to make him bleed his own blood. Infuriated, Voldemort cast a blasting curse at the ground in front of Potter's feet.

James world exploded in front of him as he was thrown back from the force of the curse. He hit the living room wall with a sickening crunch and fell to the ground in a heap. Feeling slightly disoriented from his unexpected flight, James shakily tried to stand but quickly fell back down when he tried to put any weight on his left leg. Stars swam before his eyes and James almost passed out from the excruciating pain. Looking down at his leg James felt his stomach drop at the sight. Halfway between his knee and his ankle, James' leg was snapped cleanly in two with the bottom half hanging uselessly.

Dread filled James like a shroud. His heart was pounding in his ear, and with each beat he could feel his hopelessness grow. James looked at Voldemort expecting to see a curse flying his way, but to his surprise he just stood there with a small smirk on his face.

"How does it feel James," Voldemort asked maliciously, "to be totally helpless in front of the greatest wizard of all time?"

Fury quickly replaced the hopelessness that was inside of James. _'If I am going to die,'_ he thought, _'I will not lie here like a coward… I will face him like a man…like a Potter.'_ With that James forced himself to stand, carefully keeping his weight off his left leg, and drew himself up to his full height with pride.

James looked directly into Voldemort's unimpressed face and said, "Greatest? Don't make me laugh. You are not the greatest wizard of all time, not even of our time. The greatest wizard of our time is Albus Dumbledore."

Voldemort looked furious, but James didn't allow him to get in any words before he continued, "And really Moldyshorts, how can you be great if you are afraid of a baby who is barely even a year old? That's really pathetic you know. What are you afraid he'll throw a teddy bear at you or something? Or are you afraid that everyone will realize that my one-year-old son is eight times the man you'll ever-"

Voldemort screamed incoherently in rage before shouting, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

James watched as the glowing green light of the Killing Curse sped towards him, but he did not feel fear even though he knew he could not move fast enough to dodge it. James thought of his friends, of Sirius and Remus, and hoped that they would enjoy runs on the full moon without him since he would never be able to join them again as he promised he would. He thought of his wife and two children up the stairs and was filled with love. His last thought before he died was, _'Harry better get a good prank in on Moldyshorts before he kicks his arse…'_

Lily's heart thundered in her ears as she ran up the stairs. As she reached the top she heard a crash in the living room and she hesitated, wanting to turn back and help her husband. Lily knew that she couldn't so she turned around and raced to the twins' nursery.

Unsurprisingly, both children were awake. Surprisingly, neither of them were crying. Both children stared at Lily with their brilliant green eyes with startling clarity and understanding. Deciding not to dwell on it now, Lily took the rune-carving knife she had taken to carrying around just in case out of her pocket, and started to draw a series of runes onto her left hand. When she was finished, Lily poured some of her magic into the runes that were now bleeding slightly, and they started to glow.

Lily walked over to Harry who was closest, and gently grabbed his right hand. As lightly as she could, she began to draw runes onto the back of his hand.

When she was finished she looked back up into Harry's eyes. Strangely enough, Harry didn't cry even though his hand was bleeding slightly. Instead, Harry stared into her eyes and for a moment Lily thought he understood what was happening. _'Don't be ridiculous,'_ she thought. Hugging Harry to her, she whispered to him, "Mummy and Daddy love you Harry. Watch over your sister. One day you'll be a strong wizard and we'll be watching over you every step of the way."

Lily turned to Journey who was looking at Harry's hand with curiosity. She didn't even react when Lily grabbed her hand and repeated the process. When she finished, Lily threw the knife away and hugged her daughter. "Daddy and I love you Journey. Help your brother with his destiny. I know you'll be a great witch when you're older."

Lily slowly released her daughter and grabbed both of their hands and held them in her own and started to chant. As she chanted, Lily poured her magic into the protection runes she had carved into their hands. They began to glow from the magic. At first it was just a faint glow like her own, but it quickly turned into a blinding light as she reached the end of her chant. When she finished chanting, she slowly released their hands feeling very drained. As she watched, the runes closed up on all of their hands and began to fade. In moments, you could never tell that there had ever been any marks on their hands if it weren't for the small amounts of blood on their hands.

'_I did it,'_ Lily thought tiredly. She grabbed both of her children in a fierce hug and said, "Daddy and I love you both so much. We will always be with you even if you can't see us. I know you will make us proud and become a wonderful witch and wizard." Tears began to fall down her face as she heard footsteps on the stairs and she whispered, "I love you."

The footsteps stopped and Lily released the twins to face the door. She didn't even draw her wand, since in order for the spell to work she could not defend herself.

The door slowly creaked open and Voldemort stepped through. Lily's eyes widened when she saw the cut on his arms, _'James,'_ she thought, barely suppressing a sob at the thought of her husband. Gathering up her Gryffindor courage, Lily spoke, "take me instead."

Shock appeared on Voldemort's face, before he went back to his emotionless mask and said, "stand aside you silly girl, it is not you I want."

Lily stood her ground, she refused to give up the life of her children for the sake of her own. She stood protectively in front of the crib and cried, "Not my babies!"

Voldemort looked annoyed, "I said stand aside!"

He tried to push her out of the way with one arm, but Lily refused to move. "NO!" she shouted, "MY BABIES!"

Infuriated, Voldemort stepped back so he could point his wand on her and shouted, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Lily didn't even try to move, except to turn her head to look at her children one last time. Her last thought as she looked at the wide-eyed faces of her children were, _'I will always watch over you my loves.'_

Voldemort kicked the body of Lily Potter aside and walked up to the crib. Both children looked at him with wide eyes, not understanding what had just happened. Not wanting to waste any time, Voldemort pointed his wand at the black haired boy and said calmly, "And now to make sure the prophecy never comes to pass… Avada Kedavra," and began to laugh a cold, high laugh.

Time seemed to slow down as the sickly, green light sped towards the baby and struck him right in the forehead. Suddenly, the baby began to glow with a golden light.

Time sped back up again as the curse rebounded and struck Voldemort, who was too shocked to move. A huge magical shockwave went out which sent Voldemort flying and ripped through part of the house. Voldemort could feel his body dying as the curse reached for his soul so he quickly ripped his soul from his body with the ability he gained from a dark ritual he performed several years ago. His body turned to ash in the process but Voldemort could waste no time thinking about that. His spirit quickly fled the Potter house and headed east as he thought, _'I'll get you for this, Harry Potter!'_

Back in his crib, Harry had fallen down and began to cry as blood oozed from the new lightning-shaped cut on his forehead. His sister sat down beside him and hugged him, which is how Hagrid found them several minutes later.

Sirius walked into Peter's house and shouted, "WORMY! THE SEXIEST MAN IN THE UNIVERSE HAS ARRIVED!"

Sirius smiled broadly, expecting to hear the tell-tale shuffle of Peter heading towards the living room. As time passed and he still didn't hear it, his smile began to fade. "Peter?" Sirius asked worriedly.

An undistinguishable feeling began to creep into Sirius when he didn't hear a response. Sirius rushed into the next room of the house, the kitchen, in search of his friend. The feeling grew stronger as Sirius rushed from room to room, searching for his best friend. Nothing looked out of place, no signs of a struggle, and this made Sirius even more uneasy.

When Sirius arrived in the last room of the house, Peter's bedroom, and there was still no sign of him, the feeling within Sirius filled him entirely and he recognized it for what it was, betrayal. _'Peter has betrayed us!'_ he thought furiously.

Just as anger began to take over, fear crashed into Sirius like a tidal wave. _'James and Lily!'_ he thought, _'my Prongslets!'_ Not sparing another second, Sirius ran out of the house and flew to Godric's Hollow on his motorcycle at top speed.

When Sirius arrived in Godric's Hollow, his heart dropped and he nearly fell off his motorcycle as he landed. The wards had fallen and tears started to fall down Sirius' face as he whispered, "no." The front door to the Potter's house was ripped open and part of the second story had been completely blasted open. Several parts of the house were on fire and all Sirius could do was stand there in shock.

The next second, someone bumped into him while trying to get a closer look at the house. This brought Sirius out of his revere and he sprinted towards the house. Right when entered he saw signs of a fight and looked over towards the far wall, and immediately wished he hadn't. "James," he whispered, and ran to the fallen body of his best friend, no his brother.

Sirius fell to his knees and hugged his friend's body to his chest. Sirius' eyes burned as he cried for the loss of his brother. Never again would he pull another prank with one of the greatest pranksters he knew (besides himself of course). Never again would they drive Lily mad by trying to sneak Harry and Journey onto a broom. Never again would Padfoot and Prongs run around on a full moon with Mooney. Never again would…

How long he sat there he didn't know but he was startled to hear movement upstairs. _'Maybe Lily and the twins survived,'_ he hoped. Sirius gently laid James' body down and brushed the hair out of his face. He gently closed James' still-open eyes before he softly laid a kiss upon his brow and whispered in a hoarse voice, "I will never forget you Prongs."

Sirius forced himself to turn away from his brother and walk up the stairs. When Sirius walked into the nursery he saw Lily's body at his feet, beside what looked like a large black cloak. Even more tears began to pour down his face and he almost missed the large form of Hagrid standing there holding both Journey and Harry in one arm.

Sirius looked up at Hagrid to see that he was crying too. "Lily and James," he cried hoarsely, "I can't believe it. Somehow little Harry and Journey survived the attack."

Sirius reached out, "hand them to me Hagrid, I'm Harry's godfather, and I can take Journey to Alice."

Hagrid shook his head, "I can't. Dumbledore told me to get them and bring them straight to him."

Sirius persisted, he had promised James. "Please Hagrid," he begged.

"I'm sorry," Hagrid said sincerely, "but I can't."

Sirius sighed, he knew that Hagrid was deeply devoted to Dumbledore and that nothing he could do would make him change his mind. With that in mind he began to think about the one thing he could do, avenge their deaths. With that thought in mind he looked to Hagrid and said, "take my bike then," then added on bitterly, "I won't be needing it anymore."

Hagrid looked surprised, "why thank yeh," he said, before heading out of the room.

Sirius stood there long after Hagrid had gone, staring blankly into space, thinking about all the times he had spent with James, and later Lily. The more he thought about them, the more his anger grew towards Peter. He couldn't believe that he had gone and betrayed one of his best friends like that.

Fury filled Sirius as he apparated away and thought, _'Peter you better start running…'_

Minerva McGonagall was sitting in the Three Broomsticks chatting with her old friend Rosmerta when several witches and wizards burst through the front shouting, "YOU-KNOW-WHO IS GONE!"

The few patrons at the bar began to whisper, but Minerva just sat there in disbelief.

"How?" asked a blonde witch sitting near the window. Everyone else looked just as eager to know the answer.

"Well," a blue-robed wizard with a long brown beard said, "last night You-Know-Who went to the Potters. Lily and James were both found dead this morning, but both the twins survived! They say that little Harry deflected a Killing Curse back at Voldemort, and he vanished!"

Cheers went up among the crowd, and Rosmerta busied herself with supplying drinks to everyone. People started crying and hugging each other, even if they didn't know who it was they were embracing. Several patrons hurried out of the bar so they could apparate back to their families and spread the good news.

Through all of this Minerva could only sit there. _'Lily and James?' _A tear slid down her cheek as she thought of her two favourite students. She thought of the second part of the sentence and frowned, _'how could a baby have deflected a Killing Curse? There is no defense for that curse so how could he have done it? They must be mistaken… I'll go ask Albus, he will know what's going on. Where would he be though….didn't Hagrid say something about meeting Albus at Lily's sister's place on Private Drive this morning? I'll go and wait for him there.'_

With that thought in mind Minerva calmly walked out of the bar and apparated to Surrey.

Minerva arrived several streets over from Privet Drive in a small alleyway. She quickly transformed into her animagus form, a tabby cat, and walked out of the alley. She walked down several streets, before she stopped. Concentrating, she conjured up a map. Minerva had worked really hard on wandless magic for several years, but was only ever able to accomplish several transfiguration spells, one of them being conjuring small objects. Performing wandless magic while in her animagus form was even more difficult, but not impossible like most people thought.

A car drove by as Minerva checked where she was, when she realized that right where she needed to be. Concentrating once more, Minerva banished the map and looked for a street sign. She found one to her left and read '_**Privet Drive**__'_. She nodded to herself, and started looking for number 4. Finding it easily, she leaped onto the wall in front of the property and waited for Albus to arrive.

As she waited, Minerva observed the residents of number 4, and was quiet disgusted with what she saw. Petunia had several neighbours come to her house, and the whole time they gossiped about the other neighbours. And when Petunia brought her son to visit another neighbour, he cried the whole way there, and the whole way back he screamed for treats and kicked his mother. When Vernon came home, he tried to shoo her away, _'as if that would work you buffoon,'_ before heading inside and watching TV while his wife made him dinner.

Minerva stared at the end of Privet Drive, knowing that's where Albus would show up. And sure enough he showed up in his purple-robed glory several hours after the sun had gone down and her joints had gotten stiff from sitting on the brick wall all day.

After pulling out his Put-Outer and making all the lights in the street go out, Albus approached her and said, "Fancy seeing you here Professor McGonagall."*****

She transformed back into her human body and tried to smooth her ruffled robes, "How did you know it was me?"

"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."

They talked for several moments about how everyone was celebrating the defeat of Voldemort. Albus offered her a sherbet lemon, but Minerva refused. She finally asked him about what happened that night. He confirmed that Lily and James had died, but even he couldn't tell her how little Harry had survived. Eventually, Albus pulled out a rather bizarre golden watch from his pocket. Minerva couldn't understand it, but Albus never used any other clock. When he told her that Hagrid would be bringing the Potters to live here, Minerva protested vehemently, and when he told them that he had written them a letter, Minerva felt faint. _'How could he possibly believe people like this would listen to a letter?' _she thought, but Albus refused to listen to reason. He explained to her that it would not be good for little Harry to grow up in a world where he would be famous, as it would give him a big ego. Minerva reluctantly agreed with him, but couldn't see how they couldn't find a family where he would be treated normally.

Minerva was astounded that Albus let Hagrid, of all people, bring the Potter twins to Privet Drive. She knew his heart was always in the right place, but he could be really…irresponsible at times.

Several minutes later her fears were proven to be only partially unfounded. Hagrid _did_ get the Potters here, but he brought them on a flying motorcycle! A muggle could have seen or heard him flying in the air, or he could have fallen out of the sky!

Hagrid stepped off the motorcycle, and pulled out two bundles-the Potters-from his numerous pockets in his giant coat. Albus quickly grabbed a sleeping Harry while Minerva carefully grabbed Journey from Hagrid, who was also asleep.

"No problems, Professor Dumbledore, sir," Hagrid boomed, "Got 'em out of the house before people star'ed swarmin'. Harry fell asleep just as we were flying over Bristol and little Journey fell asleep right after that."

"Wherever did you get that bike from Hagrid?" Minerva asked.

"Young Sirius Black lent it to me he did," Hagrid said with pride.

Albus, Minerva noticed, was looking at Harry with a peculiar look on his face. Looking at Harry, she realized that he had a strange scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. She asked Albus if that was where the curse struck him, and he confirmed her suspicions. He didn't remove it though, saying first that he probably couldn't remove it in the first place. Secondly he said that even if he could, he wouldn't remove it because it could prove useful. _'Useful for what?'_ Minerva wondered, but didn't question him. Hagrid became very emotional and Minerva had to quiet him before he woke the Muggles, _'if the motorcycle hadn't already.'_

They walked towards number 4, where Albus gently laid Harry on the doorstep. Minerva wanted to protest the idea of leaving babies on a doorstep in November, but knew that she couldn't change Albus' mind. Instead, she discretely placed warming and comforting charms on them after Albus had put the letter down on Harry and he and Hagrid had turned to walk away.

At the end of the street, the three of them said their goodbyes. Minerva turned into a cat again and Hagrid flew off on his flying motorcycle. Just as she reached the end of the street all the lights flickered back on and she knew Albus would soon be leaving.

Minerva couldn't help but think, _'I hope I don't regret leaving them there…'_ but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was making a very bad decision…

***** Taken from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, page 13.

**amethystdreamstar: Well there ya have it. I know I said a week, but my since it is my birthday, I thought I would do something productive and post this chapter. It's not quite as long as I wanted it to be, but it fit for what I had in mind. It was only just over 4000 words, which isn't **_**too**_** bad I guess. The next chapter will cover most, if not all, of the Potter's life at the Dursleys. They will be 10 in the chapter, so any part of their life before then will be mentioned as part of their past rather than going through each year individually.**

**Here's some of the stuff I was going to say in the last chapter, but didn't get around to:**

**In this fic, Harry and his sister will be smart. Not Hermione know-it-all smart, but smarter than how I found Harry to be in canon. They will also be slightly more powerful. I will not make this a super-Harry (or at least I will try not to) so both Harry and Journey will have strong subjects and weak subjects.**

**That being said, Harry and Journey will both have gifts, whether or not they will have more than one I'm not sure. These gifts do not include Harry's parseltongue (which ONLY Harry will have) but are a special gifts that relate to the mind. The gifts will be different for Harry and Journey and I already have their first (and maybe only) gifts decided. They will not be all powerful because of their gifts, and they will have to work on developing them, so it will not be a walk in the park, for their gifts or any other aspect of their lives.**

**I'm having issues with uploading the chapters, every time I put them up, all of the idents for new paragraphs are gone and I have to manually go through and fix all of them, which didn't even work. If anyone knows of an easier way I'd be really greatful.**

**I would deeply appreciate some reviews if you guys (and girls) could spare some, especially since I got none for the last chapter :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Hippos and Boas

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.**

"talking"

'_thoughts'_

'_**written words'**_

**Chapter 3: Hippos and Boas**

Very little at Number 4, Privet Drive had changed since that fateful evening nearly ten years ago. Vernon Dursley still went to work on drills every morning, Petunia Dursley still spied on all of her neighbours through her hedges for topics to gossip about, and Dudley Dursley still screamed at and kicked his mother for sweets.

In fact, the only indicator that any time had passed at all was the photos on the wall. Ten years ago, there were many pictures of a baby Dudley Dursley, which to an outsider would look more like a large pink beach ball with different colour hats. Now, there were pictures of a very large boy performing numerous activities with his mother and father or on his own.

The Dursleys were quiet proud of their son, for he was perfectly _normal_. Nothing strange ever happened around Dudley, which was exactly how the Dursleys wished their lives could be. For the Dursleys had a secret, a horrible, dark secret, and their worst fear was that someone would discover this secret and think that _they_ were abnormal.

In fact, one part of the Dursleys' 'secret' was waking up at this very moment, marking the beginning of a legacy.

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

Journey Potter woke up with a very foreboding feeling. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was storming outside, which in fact she didn't mind at all since she loved the rain. And it had nothing to do with the fact that she had somehow fallen off the bed in the middle of the night, which happened quite often since she was forced to share a bed with her brother so it didn't really bother her.

No, the reason that Journey Potter was dreading facing the day was because she _knew_ something bad was going to happen, just how she _knew_ that her Aunt Petunia would soon be coming to Dudley's second bedroom to wake her and her brother, Harry.

Knowing that there was nothing she could do about either of her feelings, Journey picked herself off the floor and headed to the cracked, floor-length mirror that was leaning against the opposite wall. Carefully avoiding any stray broken toys that she and her brother had yet to move or dispose of, Journey sat down on the wobbly chair that was by the mirror and looked into the largest unbroken piece. Tired green eyes stared back at her, and her freckles looked even more pronounced on her pale skin than normal. _'Must be my lack of sleep,'_ Journey thought as she ran a hand through her fiery, red hair, _'well it looks more like a rats nest right now as opposed to anything that resembles hair...'_

With that thought in mind, Journey looked over to the hairbrush that was on the desk several feet away and concentrated. For several moments nothing happened, but then Journey felt something start to build up within her. The hairbrush started to twitch and when the feeling had built up within her to the point where it stretched down to her left hand, Journey _pulled_-

WHACK! The brush smacked into her hand and Journey smiled as she began to brush her hair slowly. Calling objects was definitely Harry's expertise, but Journey would not give up until she could do it. Now, Journey was almost as good as Harry, they could call almost any object to them (provided it wasn't too heavy), but Harry was faster than her. Journey didn't let this deter her and slowly but surely, she was improving.

This was why the rest of their family hated Harry and Journey. Well, it wasn't this particular reason as Journey was sure that if Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon ever found out that they could control their 'freakishness' they'd get a good thrashing. Even so, the Dursleys hated the twins because they were _different_.

It started when Harry was four. Dudley had been playing with several toys that were laid around him, while Harry and Journey were forced to sit there and watch. One of the toys that Dudley was playing with was one that he had stolen from Harry, who had gotten it for free when they had been walking through the mall earlier that day. Harry had been crying because Dudley had punched him to get it and Journey was trying to comfort him. All the while Dudley sat there laughing and playing, which made Journey really mad.

What happened next surprised everyone. One second Dudley was holding Harry's toy, and the next he was holding a giant centipede. Dudley started at it blankly for a second, not quite comprehending what had just happened, but when the centipede started to _move_, Dudley screamed.

That was the first time that the Dursleys locked Harry and Journey in the cupboard as a punishment, and certainly not the last, but Journey didn't care. She now _knew_ why the Dursleys hated her and her brother, because they could _do_ things, things that weren't normal.

And do things they did. Over the course of the years many strange things had happened around the Potter twins. When Aunt Petunia had cut off all of Harry's hair when he was six, that night he cried himself to sleep in Journey's arms, knowing that the next day he would be even more made fun of than usual. The next day, Harry's hair had completely grown back. Both Harry and Journey got a week in the cupboard for this.

Another time, Dudley and his gang had been chasing Journey around the playground while they were on break (Harry was inside helping a teacher), when all of a sudden, a rock in front of Journey turned into a large, brown dog and started chasing Dudley. The teachers could not explain how the dog got on the grounds, but no one could prove that Journey had done anything so she wasn't punished.

Many other strange things had happened over the years. A particularly horrid sweater that had once been Dudley's had shrunk when Aunt Petunia had tried to force Harry to wear it to the point where it wouldn't fit a hand puppet. Aunt Petunia just assumed that it had shrunk in the wash so there was no punishment that time. There was a punishment when Harry had somehow ended up on the school roof when Dudley's gang was chasing him, which was as much a surprise to him as it was to everyone else. Harry and Journey had been locked in the cupboard for a month for that.

It wasn't until they were eight that Journey proposed they should maybe learn how to control it. After several days of no success, Harry finally got results. The small toy soldier (filched from Dudley's second bedroom) that Harry had been trying to make float, rose two inches off the ground. He was extremely drained afterwards, but he didn't care. They finally had proof to go along with what Journey _knew_ all along; the Dursleys hated them because they were _different_. It took Journey a week to accomplish the same task as Harry, but she didn't care because she _knew_ that she would have more trouble with this than Harry.

Journey didn't know how she _knew_ things, just that she did. Harry thought maybe it was strong intuition, something that they had read about in the library. Journey was inclined to agree with him, but at the same time couldn't shake the feeling that it was something… _more_.

Whatever _it_ was, it proved to be invaluable. When they were seven, Journey overheard some of the neighbours talking about the horrible clothes her and Harry always had to wear. Journey _knew_ that it was a good idea to tell Aunt Petunia what she had heard as she hated being gossiped about almost as much, if not more than she hated anything _abnormal_, and she wasn't disappointed. Later that day when Journey told Aunt Petunia that some of the neighbours were _gossiping_ about how it was _strange_ that Harry and Journey had to wear such _abnormal_ clothes when the rest of the Dursleys had nice _normal_ clothes, Aunt Petunia went as white as a sheet and sent Journey to her cupboard. The next day, Aunt Petunia took Harry and Journey to a second hand clothes shop and bought them several outfits each.

Journey used this tactic three more times, with varying degrees of success. When Journey was eight she told Aunt Petunia that some of the neighbours had been talking about how _unnaturally_ small and skinny they were, and that no child should be that small, regardless of their genes. That very evening, Aunt Petunia gave Harry and Journey much more food than they had been used to (a slice of toast each). It was filled with all the foods that Vernon and Dudley hated (mostly vegetables), and was much smaller than either of their portions, but since their portions were huge the twins didn't really care. On their plate for that one meal was more than what they usually got in a whole day. Every day after that Aunt Petunia gave them full meals of mostly vegetables, and made sure they were seen carrying lunches to school.

When Harry and Journey were nine, Journey decided to test her luck. Both times she had attempted to make life better for her and Harry, she _knew_ it would work, but this time she wasn't sure if she _knew_ or not. Deciding to try her luck, Journey went to Harry one day after he had finished making dinner and began talking in a voice loud enough for Aunt Petunia (who was setting the table) to hear. She told him how she had overheard the neighbours talking about how they never see either of us doing any activities, which just wasn't _normal_. She also told him about how their teacher thought it was _strange _that they couldn't go on the class trip to the beach because they didn't know how to swim. Her teacher also told her that all _normal_ kids should know how to swim and that it was _weird_ that Aunt Petunia had never signed them up for lessons. Aunt Petunia hurriedly sent them upstairs after dinner without any remarks

Nothing changed in the Dursley household for several weeks, and Journey began to think that she had failed, but two months later she had been proven wrong. One evening Aunt Petunia visited Harry and Journey in the cupboard and told them that she had signed them up at a local rec center for an hour every Wednesday and two hours every Saturday. The only reason they were going was because one of Vernon's client's wife worked there and was able to give them a big discount.

It was the best thing that had ever happened to Journey and Harry at that point. The facility had a swimming pool, gymnastic hall, dance studios, a dojo, two gymnasiums, and even an outdoor area with a football (soccer) field, a basketball court and a running track. There were also several other rooms, like a workout room full of weights, but they never went into those rooms. The instructors taught them different things each week. Wednesdays alternated between swimming and gymnastics lessons, which were both great fun. Journey found that she was better at swimming than Harry, just as he was better than her at gymnastics. On Saturdays, they had either tae kwon do or dance lessons, which alternated between jazz, hip hop, ballet and even occasionally tried out formal dances just for fun. Both Harry and Journey liked working in the dojo, and were equally matched. In the studios, Journey excelled at ballet and the formal dances, while Harry found he didn't really excel at any of the dance styles, but liked jazz and hip hop the best because the instructors would occasionally let him throw in some gymnastic moves. After they finished their first lesson, they had an outside lesson. They would first have to run around the track a few times for warm up, and then they would either play football or basketball. Harry turned out to be an amazing striker and was decent at goalie, while Journey was just as talented as a midfield or striker. Neither one of them liked playing basketball since they were both horrible at it, and they always dreaded when they would be playing it.

By far the best part about being able to go to the rec centre was being able to go to the library that was located between one of the gymnasiums and swimming pool. Any day they wanted (when they didn't have chores to do), they could go to the library and read to their hearts content. At first they read only fiction books, but soon they began to read anything they could get their hands on, even if it was several years too advanced for them and they couldn't quite understand it.

The last time Journey tried to change anything when she was ten, she nearly failed. Journey had just begun to talk to her Aunt Petunia when Uncle Vernon had walked into the room. Journey knew she was treading into dangerous waters, but knew that it was worth the risk. She told her Aunt how Harry and her were getting really cramped in the cupboard. Uncle Vernon had gone really red in the face and started ranting about how they were ungrateful brats who didn't appreciate them when they had done so much for them. Journey knew that she wouldn't get another chance so she pushed on, pleading her case to her Aunt. She told her how all of Dudley's friends knew about the cupboard, and that it was only a matter of time before one of them let it slip to their parents, who would gossip about how _strange_ that was.

Aunt Petunia looked thoughtful and even Uncle Vernon paused in his rant to think about that, before grabbing her by the scruff of the neck and throwing her into the cupboard with Harry and locking them in. They stayed in the cupboard for several days, before Aunt Petunia finally opened the cupboard. She said that they could move into Dudley's second bedroom on several conditions. Firstly, it would still be Dudley's second bedroom, meaning he could keep putting broken and unwanted toys in it. Second, they had to complete a huge list of chores by the end of the week, which included cleaning the entire garage, attic and back shed, among other things. Finally, there was to be no _unnaturalness_ for the rest of the year, or they would be moved right back to the cupboard.

Harry and Journey agreed quickly to all conditions, even though they knew that they would be breaking the last one, not that Aunt Petunia had to know that. Dudley put up a big fuss (understatement of the century) but when his mother told him that he could still use the room, he quieted down some. The room was small and only contained one bed, but neither Harry nor Journey complained since it was like a mansion compared to their cupboard which they had been sharing for as long as they could remember, so sharing a bed didn't really seem that bad.

Other than those minor changes, life in number four remained the same for Harry and Journey. They still had to get lower marks than Dudley or they would get punished for 'cheating' and Dudley's gang still chased them around and beat them up. They still had to cook all the meals, do the gardening (well, Harry did the gardening, after Journey's first attempt where she completely destroyed the rosebushes Harry refused to let her do it), do the laundry, clean all the rooms in the house besides Dudley's and the master bedroom, and any other tasks that were thought up. Harry and Journey still practiced their strange ability, they just had much more room, and objects, to work with.

"UP!"

Journey was startled out of her thoughts by Aunt Petunia's shrill voice screeching behind the door. Harry jumped and fell out of bed, causing her to snicker. Harry glared at her from his place on the floor, but the effect was lost when he yawned.

Aunt Petunia rapped on the door, "Get up… NOW!"

Journey listened as her Aunt's footsteps faded down the stairs. She sighed and tossed Harry some clothes from his drawer, before grabbing her own. As they got dressed she said to him, "I have a feeling today is going to be a bad day."

Harry looked at her sharply. He knew not to ignore her _feelings_, even when they were bad feelings. Harry was about to say something when their Aunt was back outside the door saying, "aren't you up yet? Breakfast needs to be made, and don't either of you dare let it burn! I want everything to be absolutely perfect for my Dudleykins birthday."

Harry groaned as she walked away and asked hopefully, "maybe you're just having that feeling because it's Dudley's birthday?"

Journey thought for a moment then shook her head sadly, "no," she said slowly, "it's more than that, but I think they may be connected somehow."

Harry shrugged as he put on his taped-together glasses, "well I guess we can't really do anything about it then, no sense dwelling about it." With that he walked over to the door and opened it, turning to wait for her.

Journey sighed. She wished she could be as carefree about her feelings as he could. _'Maybe it's because he doesn't constantly have it hanging over him like I do and he can put it out of his mind,'_ she thought, _'any other time hardly anything bothers me, yet I can never push this aside.'_ Deciding to think more on it later, Journey followed Harry out of their room and shut the door behind her.

When they walked into the kitchen, Journey immediately noticed all of Dudley's presents on the table…or rather where she _assumed_ the table to be considering she couldn't even see it under the mini mountain also known as Dudley's presents. _'Looks like he got everything he wanted,'_ Journey observed, _'although why Dudley would want a racing bike is beyond me…I wonder if it will hold his weight now considering he looks like a baby hippo…'_

Supressing a snort at the mental image of the bike collapsing when Dudley sat on it, Journey set to work frying the bacon while Harry started making toast. Between the two of them, they were able to finish making breakfast and setting the table (somehow finding room around all of the presents) just as Dudley and Uncle Vernon walked in.

You could clearly see that Vernon and Dudley were related. Uncle Vernon was a very large man with virtually no neck, and made up for it by having a very large moustache. Dudley looked very similar to Vernon, just without the moustache. He too had very little neck, and had the same watery blue eyes and pink face of his father. He had thick blonde hair that sat on top of his fat head, which he got from his mother who was also blonde. That was the only similarity he shared with his mother, as she was very thin and had almost twice the normal amount of neck, which she used to her advantage in her quest to discover every secret the neighbours had.

Journey and Harry couldn't be any more different from the Dursleys even if they tried. Both were very thin (although not nearly as thin as they were before they started eating healthy) and were slightly small for their age. They had the same thin face (Journey had a smattering of freckles on hers but Harry didn't) and knobbly knees. Their bright-green eyes, looked identical at first glance, but when she was seven Journey noticed that hers had small flecks of silver in them whereas Harry's didn't. They both had unruly hair that drove Aunt Petunia crazy, but Harry's was black and very short, whereas Journey's was fiery red and fell to her mid-back in messy curls.

The one other thing that separated them, was that Harry had a lightning bolt-shaped cut on his forehead (which he thought was pretty cool). When they asked Aunt Petunia how he got it, she told them it was from the car crash his parents died from and not to ask questions (one of the first of many rules that were a part of living with the Dursleys). Both Harry and Journey knew she was lying, Harry because he could remember that night and Journey because she just _knew_.

Journey was brought out of her thoughts about Harry's near-photographic memory by Dudley jumping up and down in happiness (or trying to), which caused the whole table to shake until he stopped. Dudley's eyes lit up in glee at the sight of all his presents, before they narrowed. Journey began to eat as Dudley started counting all his presents. When he had counted them all, he rounded on Aunt Petunia and said, "There's only thirty-six, that's two less than last year."

Petunia smoothed his hair, "you missed the one from Auntie Marge. It's under the big one that Mummy and Daddy bought you."

Dudley started going red in the face. Harry and Journey both looked at each other and had the same thought, _'oh no,'_ before simultaneously they turned and began to eat as fast as possible in case Dudley decided to flip the table over in his rage.

Aunt Petunia seemed to sense the danger as well, because she said quickly in a sweet voice, "and as a surprise, when we go out, we're going to buy you _two more_ presents. How's that pumpkin? _Two_ presents."

Dudley thought for a moment, and both Harry and Journey thought that it looked like extremely hard work for him. _'Probably is,'_ Journey thought, _'considering all the thinking he's ever had to do is figure out which kid he can bully into letting him cheat off of them.'_

After a long moment Dudley said, "so… I'll have… thirty, uh… thirty…"

Journey nearly choked on her bacon as she supressed a laugh, _'looks like he has the intelligence of a hippo too, who would've guessed.'_

But Aunt Petunia didn't seem to care as she said, "Thirty-nine, sweetums, thirty-nine."

Dudley thought about it some more (_'Maybe I should call the government and tell them their failed experiment in crossing a hippo and a boy is located in our house,' _Journey thought) before he nodded to himself and said, "okay," before he sat down (_'…on second thought, maybe I should tell them that tremors have been felt in Privet Drive and they should send earthquake specialists to Surrey…'_).

Harry and Journey shared a look when Dudley began to open his presents, and to their shock completely ignoring the food. _'Huh, so he does have the self-control to not eat when there is food in front of him?'_ Journey thought incredulously, _'who would've thought.'_

Uncle Vernon chuckled after he finished swallowing his food and ruffled Dudley's hair. "Attaboy Dudley! Want your money's worth just like your dad."

Journey shared a disgusted look with Harry as the phone rang. Aunt Petunia rushed to get it, and came back several minutes later with a very disappointed look on her face. She turned to her husband, "I've got bad news Vernon," she glanced at Dudley who was opening his new computer, "Mrs. Figg just called. She broke her leg so she can't take them."

Dudley stopped his present-opening rampage to gasp in horror, while Harry and Journey both sat up a little straighter. Every year, Dudley got to go somewhere exciting for his birthday from adventure parks to cinemas, and every year Harry and Journey had to stay with old Mrs. Figg who lived several streets away with her many cats. Her house smelt kind of like old cabbage and they were forced to look at pictures of all the cats she's ever owned. Journey didn't mind so much since she loves cats and got to play with them for a bit, but Harry _hated_ it.

Aunt Petunia looked furious. "What should we do now?" she asked, before glaring at the twins (who immediately went back to eating) as if they had set it up. _'Even I wouldn't plan a prank like that,'_ thought Journey, _'and I put clear glue on our third grade teacher's seat which ripped her skirt when she stood up.'_

Journey felt a little sorry for Mrs. Figg, but she knew Harry probably couldn't bring himself to feel bad for her when he wouldn't have to sit though hours of looking at photos of Snowy and Tibbles for another whole year.

Vernon thought about it. "We could always phone my sister," he suggested.

"Vernon, don't be silly," scolded Petunia, "she hates them."

Journey scowled to her plate. She hated when the Dursleys-or anyone for that matter-talked about her or Harry like they weren't there. Unfortunately, the Dursleys often spoke like that when they were talking about the twins. If the Dursleys did acknowledge the twins, they talked about them as if they were something really stupid and disgusting that couldn't understand a word they were saying, like a snail or something. _'Obviously,'_ thought Journey bitterly, _'they've never seen their son…he's about as stupid and disgusting as they get.'_

Vernon started grasping at straws, "What about your one friend… uh… Yvonne?"

"She's on holidays till the end of the week," Aunt Petunia snapped at him,

Surprisingly, it was Harry who spoke next. "You could leave us here," he suggested only slightly hopefully.

Even before she looked at Aunt Petunia Journey knew that they would never be allowed, and she didn't even need her ability to _know_ things to figure it out.

When she looked at Aunt Petunia, she nearly laughed at her facial expression. It looked like she had swallowed something awfully sour and unpleasant. "Of course," she snarled at Harry, "and when we come home to see the house in ruins? I don't think so."

Harry looked indignant. "We won't blow up the house," he protested. _'Don't be so sure brother dearest, I wouldn't mind causing a little havoc in the Dursleys 'perfect' lives…'_

Her expression turned thoughtful as she ignored him and said, "We could … take them with us to the zoo … and … leave them in the car …"

Uncle Vernon immediately shot the idea down, "Absolutely not. The car is brand new! I'm not going to let them sit in by themselves."

Journey rolled her eyes when Dudley began to cry loudly. _'Really?' _Journey thought as she ignored Aunt Petunia trying to comfort her son's fake tears,_ 'one stupid prank gone wrong causing all the seats in the old car to turn purple, and we're never allowed near the car unsupervised. That is so unfair.'_

The doorbell rang, bringing Journey back to the present. She heard her Aunt Petunia begin to panic, and not a moment later Dudley's best friend (_'more like head crony,'_ thought Journey), Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was even scrawnier than Harry or Journey and he reminded her of a rat. He would usually hold back someone's arms behind their backs while Dudley would punch them in the face. As soon as Dudley saw his friend, he stopped crying at once.

Journey and Harry ended up sharing a seat half an hour later on the drive to the zoo since there wasn't enough room in the car for everyone. Harry couldn't keep the grin off of his face he was so excited to visit the zoo for the first time ever, but Journey couldn't bring herself to share the excitement. She felt especially apprehensive with the stern warning Uncle Vernon had given them when they couldn't think of anything else to do with them.

While on the way there, Journey began to feel some of Harry's optimism rub off on her. Even when Uncle Vernon started going on and on about how he hated motorcycles.

Of course, Harry had an amazing ability to speak without thinking at the most inopportune moments, and today happened to be one of those days. "I had a dream about a motorcycle," he said as if he had just remembered, "it was flying."

Journey watched, amused, as Uncle Vernon almost crashed into the car in front as he slammed on the brakes so he could roar at Harry, "MOTORCYCLES DO NOT FLY!"

Dudley and Piers sniggered, as if Harry getting yelled at was the most amusing thing they'd ever seen. Journey almost laughed as well, but because she thought Uncle Vernon's face looked like a giant swelled tomato with a bristly moustache.

"I know that they don't fly," Harry said half-heartedly, "it was just a dream."

Journey knew that Harry wished he hadn't said anything, but Journey found the whole situation hilarious. She thought it was great fun to watch Uncle Vernon's face change different colours in his varying stages of anger, and she could always tell when to push and when not to because of it. Journey also knew that the fastest way to get his face from slightly pink (his normal colour), to tomato red (Anger Level 6) was to mention something that was _unnatural_ or _freakish_, since the thing that the Dursleys hated even more than gossip, was when Harry or Journey talked about anything behaving in a way that it shouldn't. _'Gee I wonder why,' _thought Journey sarcastically, _'are they afraid we'll get ideas? … well they're probably right on that account … for once.'_

Considering the storm they had last night, Saturday morning was very sunny. It seemed like every family in the surrounding area had decided to come to the zoo so it was rather crowded. When the Dursleys had bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice-creams and the twins ended up getting a cheap lemon ice lolly when the Dursleys couldn't escape the smiling woman fast enough. It actually didn't taste that bad, and Journey had a good laugh when Harry said that one of the gorillas scratching its head looked an awful lot like Dudley and that if it had blonde hair _they_ would look like twins.

Journey even forgot about the foreboding feeling she had that morning when they reached the lion exhibit. The lions woke up from their nap when she approached them (way after Dudley and Piers who were starting to get bored and might take the opportunity to have a go at her and Harry), and rubbed their heads against the glass as if they wanted her to pet them.

Journey and Harry even got to finish the rest of Dudley's Knickerbocker glory for lunch when he complained that it wasn't big enough and got another one. It was a big improvement from the olive-infested, soggy crouton salad that she and Harry had to share.

Both Harry and Journey realized afterwards that they should have taken Journey's intuition more seriously.

After Dudley finally finished his second Knickerbocker glory, everyone headed to the reptile house. It was rather dark, with windows along the walls on the one side. In the exhibits, numerous snakes and reptiles lazed about. There were poisonous cobras, rattlesnakes, and gigantic pythons, along with lizards from the size of Journey's hand, to the size of Journey herself. Dudley wasted no time finding the biggest snake in the reptile house. Harry looked at in awe and whispered to Journey about how it could probably wrap itself twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crush it to the size of a dustbin. _'Now there's an idea …'_

Dudley was disappointed with when he waited for several moments for the snake to move with his nose pressed up against the glass. _'Wow Dudley,'_ Journey thought, _'not only have you found the biggest snake in the reptile house, you also found the laziest ... seems like you found your soul mate.'_

Dudley tried to get his father to make the snake move, but it wouldn't move even after he rapped his knuckles on it a few times. Dudley quickly grew bored (_'once again Dudley is showing the world that he _still_ has the attention span of a two year old,' _Journey whispered to Harry who snickered) and moved onto another exhibit with Piers.

Harry and Journey both stayed and watched the snake, which was really quiet impressive. Journey felt sorry for it, having to stay locked up all the time and having people like Dudley bang on the glass all day even though it clearly says on a nearby sign not to.

They had been watching the snake for several minutes when it suddenly opened its eyes. Very slowly, it raised its head up until it was eye level with Harry … and it _winked_.

Harry and Journey shared a startled glance, before quickly looking around to make sure no one was watching.

As the snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley before making a shrug like expression (which looked rather odd on a snake), Journey's foreboding feeling returned with a vengeance. She looked around as Harry began to talk to the snake, when she realized that he wasn't even talking.

Harry was _hissing_ at the snake. And from the nods the snake was giving, he seemed to understand what Harry was saying. Journey was so shocked from hearing her brother converse with a snake in apparently its own language that she didn't notice Piers look over at them. She did notice however, when he began to start shouting, making all three of them jump.

"DUDLEY COME LOOK AT THIS! MR. DURSLEY! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT THIS SNAKE IS DOING!" Piers shouted at the top of his lungs.

Dudley waddled his way over as fast as he could.

"Get out of the way freak," he said, punching Harry in the side before Journey could react. Harry fell to the floor from the unexpected attack and glared up at Dudley. The next few seconds happened so fast no one could figure out what happened – one second, Piers and Dudley were squashing their faces against the glass trying to get a closer look at the snake, and the next, they were falling into the small pond that was in the exhibit.

Journey rubbed her ears from the high-pitched scream and watched as the boa constrictor began uncoiling itself at lightning speed and slithering out of the exhibit and onto the floor. People who saw this began to scream in terror and run for the exits. The snake snapped playfully at Dudley and Piers' feet as it passed over them, but Journey didn't bother trying to move away when it came near her, she _knew_ that the snake wouldn't attack her.

The snake slithered past Harry, who was still on the ground. She guessed it said something to him because Harry's delighted expression at Dudley's misfortune turned into one of shock.

The zookeeper in charge of the reptile house was in shock when he saw the glass was missing. He kept on asking where the glass went, but no one knew the answer.

The zoo director met with Aunt Petunia to offer her some sweet tea while apologizing over and over. Once they had been fished from the exhibit, the zoo director also gave large blankets to Dudley and Piers, who seemed to be in shock as they couldn't say anything. As they began the drive home, Dudley and Piers improved to the point where they could only stutter pitifully, but towards the end they started telling outrageous stories about how the snake had nearly killed them. _'As if the snake would ever_ want _to eat something like you Dudley,'_ Journey thought viciously. The worst part of the trip, was when Piers asked Harry about him talking to it. Journey _knew_ everything was going to go downhill even before Piers opened his mouth and when Piers left the house and Uncle Vernon rounded on her and Harry, she wasn't disappointed.

Uncle Vernon's face turned a very interesting shade of red-purple (Anger Level 8) when he ordered Journey and Harry to Dudley's second bedroom with no meals before collapsing into a chair. Journey didn't stick around to watch Aunt Petunia to grab him a large brandy, but dragged Harry upstairs.

Journey would question Harry later about talking to the snake, but for now neither of them felt like talking. They would wait until the Dursleys were asleep before they would head down to the kitchen and sneak some food into their room and hide it under the lose floorboard.

Journey wished that she could get away from the Dursleys, her and Harry. Ten miserable years they had lived with them, since their parents had died in the 'car crash'. Harry remembered the night their parents died, so they knew it wasn't really a car crash that killed their parents. They knew that there was a whole other world out there, their parents' world. They used to wish that they had family in that world that would come and get them, or that a friend of their parents would rescue them from the Dursleys, but no one ever did. She _knew_ that people on the streets knew Harry, even if they weren't always obvious like the man who had come up and shaken his hand in the shop that one time. _'But if so many people know us,' _Journey wondered bitterly, _'how come no one has checked up on us? If anyone spent five minutes watching the Dursleys, they would realize we were mistreated here … yet they leave us here to suffer for ten long, miserable years.'_

Journey _knew _that one day she and Harry were going to leave _Privet_ Drive, _'and I can't wait …'_

The one thing Journey didn't know, was that that day was much closer than she could ever imagine…

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

**amethystdreamstar: Well, there is chapter number three. I want to explain a few things in this chapter.**

**First, Journey doesn't **_**know**_** everything that goes on around her. She can get really strong feelings, like a gut instinct, about what she **_**should**_** do, and it is always right, the problem is how she interprets these feelings. She didn't wake up knowing that a boa constrictor would escape and they'd be locked up as punishment, just that something unfortunate would happen, so it's not really a big advantage … yet.**

**Second, some people will probably think that Aunt Petunia would never do any of the things she did in this chapter. I (obviously) disagree. I think that Petunia's fear of gossip and anything abnormal is so strong, she'd do almost anything to have people think they were a perfectly **_**normal**_** family. That being said I also know that she'd probably never sign the twins up for any type of class, but I got creative a little bit. I figured that if several situations lined themselves up perfectly, such as a) Petunia's fear of being gossiped about and fear of the abnormal, b) the Vernon's client didn't really like Vernon and figured his niece and nephew weren't treated really well so he talked to his wife, who was able to get a **_**really**_** good deal, c) random chance that Petunia heard a story about kids drowning since they couldn't swim and their guardians were blamed. I think that if these factors all came together, Petunia would sign them up for swimming lessons. She didn't know that the lady who gave her the deal she would slip them into other classes to experience opportunities they otherwise would never have gotten. You guys might think it's farfetched, but I think it could happen …**

**Next thing, Harry and Journey's 'abilities' don't make them all powerful, and I tried to convey that they have to work very hard to accomplish even the simplest of tasks like summoning. The only reason they can do so much is because they had been practicing for years.**

**Finally, I'd like to thank my 2 reviewers, even if the first review was only to tell me that I spelt 'Privet' drive wrong. My friends and I have always pronounced it as 'private' for some reason, and I think somewhere along the line the spelling changed in my head :P As soon judecube called me out on it though, is started pronouncing it as 'privet' in my head. Weird.**

**I'd like to thank MarkerBarker78 for giving me such a positive review. Getting such a nice review really made my day (even if I don't entirely believe that my story is that good). I couldn't write about what you asked in this chapter, but it will be in this story, or one of its future sequels. **

**Please review if you guys liked my story (and even if you want to criticize it). Positive reviews make my day and make me want to write more, and criticism well, it upsets me a bit at first (who doesn't get upset after they are criticized) but then it pushes me to write better :]**

**Oh and one more thing, this chapter followed really closely to the book. The next few chapters will probably be the same, but then it will start to spin off. (Sorry there was so much I just wanted to make sure that no one got confused :S )**


	4. Chapter 4: Punishments and Sunday Post

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Everything that is ****underlined**** is taken directly from the book.**

"talking"

'_thought'_

'_**written words'**_

**Chapter 4: Punishments and Sunday Post**

While the Dursleys thought they were punishing Harry and Journey for the escape of the boa-who-long-for-Brazil (Harry told Journey what he and the snake had talked about), in actuality, they were giving the twins time to practice their abilities without fear of being interrupted. The only thing that their 'punishment' prevented them from doing was going out to find another snake to see if Harry could talk to it again.

While in their longest punishment since their arrival at the Dursleys, Journey and Harry's abilities made some remarkable improvements. Journey's ability to call objects was almost as fast as Harry's, but he still had a bit of a lead on her. They worked on several of their other abilities as well. Harry was better at levitating things or making them move on their own (Harry and Journey had great fun making several of Dudley's old, broken toy soldiers fight in great battles which were always won by Harry's team since he could make more toys for his army move than Journey could), and he was also better at using his 'energy' as the twins called it, to unlock the door so they could sneak into the kitchen for more food in the middle of the night. But Journey was no pushover and had some abilities where she outstripped Harry by far. When it came to 'changing' anything, Journey was always the first to get it right. They took inspiration from when Harry had changed one of their teacher's hair blue when they were younger, and worked on changing the colour of different broken objects around the room. That was months ago, and both Harry and Journey could perform this particular ability with great ease, although Journey had much more finesse than Harry. While Harry could change the colour of the entire object into one solid colour, Journey could change it into patterns or just change certain parts of the object. While Harry's toy army always won their battles, Journey's always looked the coolest and that was okay with her.

Harry and Journey didn't only work on their previous abilities, they had been trying to 'make' new abilities for several months, but could only work on them sparingly because of school, chores and going to the rec center. While they were being 'punished,' the Dursleys didn't even let them out to force them to do chores, so Harry and Journey had lots of time to work on creating new abilities and to their great joy they were successful in many cases.

Their first success was being able to call a small ball of fire into their hand. Journey was the first to get any success and Harry even stopped trying to turn a pebble into a leaf when he heard her gasp (when practicing their abilities Harry tended to tune out the world around him in his concentration). They both stared in awe at the silver and blue/violet coloured flames that licked Journey's hand from where it was hovering above it, but didn't burn her skin at all. A few seconds later, Journey lost her concentration and the fire vanished, leaving her feeling very drained. Harry immediately began to try and conjure his own fire, and a couple days later he was able to call forth emerald green and gold flames. Through experimentation, Harry and Journey realized that they could call the fire directly onto their hand, looking to all the world as if their limbs were on fire when in actuality all they experienced was a nice warm feeling wherever the flames were. The twins also realized that they could shape the ball of fire into other shapes, but it took a lot of focus and even the smallest lapse in concentration would make the fire vanish completely.

Harry and Journey wondered at the fact that their flames were different from each other, and not even close to the colour of normal fire at all. After mulling over the topic for several hours, they came to a fairly decent conclusion considering that there were no resources they could look into for information. Harry figured that since they were different people, their 'energies' would also be different, which would reflect in the colour of the flames and that what they were doing wasn't really _normal_ by any stretch of the imagination, so their flames wouldn't exactly look normal would they. Journey was inclined to agree.

Journey put practicing her other abilities on hold as she experimented with 'her fire.' When Journey focused on how her body felt when she practiced, Journey realized she could actually feel something building and moving within her and when Harry focused, he felt the same thing. They were both excited at this new revelation and practiced all the harder once they discovered it. Journey would try lighting one hand and she could feel some sort of energy building inside of her near her heart and along her spine before it would travel down to her left hand. Once it reached her hand there would be a small burst, kind of similar to a spark, and flames would erupt on her hand. After discovering this, Journey tried to create fire with her right hand and found something shocking. While Journey's 'energy' would flow easily down to her left hand, the same could not be said for her right. Very little energy would flow down to her right hand and the flow itself would be very chaotic, stopping at random moments or moving in small spurts.

Journey was shocked that this could happen and thought something was wrong with her, especially when Harry had no trouble creating fire with his right hand. However, her fears were proven to be unfounded when Harry found the same difficulties when trying to create fire with his left hand. They reasoned that they probably channelled their energy through their dominant hand their whole life, so the flow of energy was much smoother when it went down their dominant hand compared to their other hand. To resolve this, Harry and Journey started practicing more with their non-dominant hand. The process was slow going, and even by the time they were let out at the end of their punishment after school got out (Dudley's birthday was in May) Journey could only channel a small 'stream' of energy down to her right hand which made her extremely exhausted, and Harry wasn't any better.

Another ability that the twins had some success in was their 'chameleon ability' as they called it. They got the inspiration when Harry grew his hair overnight when Aunt Petunia had chopped it all off. Since then, they had been trying to change parts of their appearance with no success and had almost given up. One day when Journey was working on channelling energy into her right hand, she was struck with a sudden thought, _'if I could channel energy into my hand … couldn't I channel it into my hair or my eyes?'_

Journey talked to Harry about it, and they both thought that it would be worth a shot. After several gruelling days of work, Harry finally achieved some results. He had been able to channel a small amount of energy into part of his hair and was able to change a couple of his black strands blonde. It took a constant flow of energy to keep the change, so Harry could only hold it for a few seconds before he collapsed in exhaustion. He didn't care though, and he and Journey were both ecstatic and plotted numerous ways this ability could be taken advantage of.

"We could try and make ourselves taller," Harry proposed, "then we wouldn't suck so much at basketball and people wouldn't laugh at us for being so tiny."

"Maybe," Journey mused, "or … we could pretend to be Dudley and get him in trouble with his parents?"

"Wouldn't work," Harry said as he shook his head, "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon believe that Dudley could do no wrong, so they'd blame it on us anyways."

Journey sighed, "that's too bad, I wanted to see how he would react if Aunt Petunia tried to make Dudley weed the garden as punishment." Journey shuddered at the thought of the garden, the one place where no matter how hard she tried, she could never do anything right and seemed to destroy everything in her path.

Journey was about to propose another idea when Harry quietly said, "we could try and escape the Dursleys. We could make ourselves look older, get a job and live in an apartment or something."

Journey was stunned. _'To be able to escape the Dursleys …'_ she couldn't even finish the thought. To be able to escape the Dursleys was a dream that both Potters shared, and to have even the slightest hint of an opportunity was making her giddy at the thought. She shared a smile with Harry and knew he felt the same way.

They didn't say anything else on the subject, but in the following days they worked on their abilities harder than ever before. They didn't even know if they would even be able to change their entire appearance, but if there was even the smallest possibility that it was possible … well, Journey knew that she would leave this wretched place in an instant, with Harry right behind her.

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

When Aunt Petunia finally told them their punishment for "Dudley's birthday fiasco," summer was well underway and the twins had missed several of their summer sessions at the rec center. Dudley had already broken several of his birthday gifts and run over Mrs. Figg when he rode his racing bike for the first time ever.

Journey was glad school was finally over for different reasons than Harry. Harry was glad because he wouldn't have to sit in a boring classroom all day, but Journey was excited to finally be able to _learn_. Harry and Journey were never allowed to do well in school because they found out the hard way that they would get punished if they ever did better than Dudley on anything. Since Dudley was about as stupid as one could get (the only reason he passed was because he cheated off of others and he _still_ got most of it wrong), Harry and Journey had to pretty much fail all of their assignments and tests so they wouldn't do better than Dudley.

Journey hated this part of living with the Dursleys the most, as she loved learning new things. Whenever she could, Journey would read book after book, many times even reading the same books twice to make sure she hadn't missed anything. She couldn't do this in school, otherwise teachers would ask how a kid who read so many books (that were often way above her grade level) could do so badly in class. Summer presented Journey with the opportunity to read until her hearts content, so long as she wasn't taking any of her classes at the rec center, doing chores or practicing her abilities.

Journey and Harry both loved to read, and between the two of them Journey figured that they read more books in a week than all of the Dursleys combined would ever read in their whole lives. Harry didn't read as much as Journey did, simply because he didn't need to. One thing that Journey was shamelessly envious of was Harry's ability to retain absolutely everything he ever read. Harry could read something once in a little more than half the time it took Journey to read the exact same book. Weeks later, Harry would still be able to recite the entire book word for word, and could even tell you what page and paragraph number it was. Harry didn't quite have Journey's endless thirst for knowledge, so he didn't read as fast as he could and took his time enjoying what he was reading. When Journey had asked him why he wouldn't learn as much as he could, Harry had told her that when he read too much in one go, it all became jumbled up in his mind until he could sort it out in his head, which could take days or weeks even.

Journey thought Harry was being ridiculous and that he could sort his mind out as he read something, but didn't push it since she didn't want to argue with the one person on Privet Drive who actually liked her.

The one thing that neither of the twins looked forward to was having to face Dudley's gang. Dudley's gang was full of kids like Dudley (big and stupid) with a couple of kids like Piers who were really scrawny and followed the orders of Dudley like well-trained puppies. Journey figured that they probably shared five brain cells between all of them and told Harry this. Harry agreed and said that Dudley had the smallest portion, which was why he was made the leader. This logic didn't really make sense to Journey, but she didn't try to wrap her mind around it because she feared that some of that stupid mentality would somehow reach her if she understood it.

Regardless of how the gang structure was set up, they were still dangerous. Small children and animals knew to get out of the way and hide when they could see Dudley's gang coming. Unfortunately, Harry and Journey didn't have the same luxury since they lived with Dudley. Whenever they could, Harry and Journey would escape to the library at the rec center, but that option wasn't always available and the twins would end up 'playing' with Dudley's gang. The members of Dudley's gang were always delighted to play with them and saved their favourite game just for them, Potter Hunting.

Potter Hunting was quite a simple game. Harry and Journey would get a ten second head start (sometimes not even that) before Dudley's gang would chase after them. If Dudley's gang caught up to either of the twins, they would beat them up and go off in search of the other twin. Luckily, Harry and Journey were really fast so Dudley's gang could rarely catch them, and if they did the other twin would always stay with the one who was caught and help them land in a few good punches before they were both overpowered.

Summer that year at the Dursleys passed slowly. Every day, Aunt Petunia would give the twins a list of chores to be completed by the end of the day, which could range from painting the garden shed, planting new flowers or the garden, or even mowing the lawn. Harry and Journey would divide the chores amongst themselves, so that it would get done faster and to Aunt Petunia's satisfaction. Harry would always garden since Journey couldn't even water a plant without killing it while Journey would cook all the meals since she had a talent for it. After their chores were done, the twins would head to the rec center to either use the library or do some other activities while at night they would practice their abilities quietly. Throw in a couple of run-ins with Dudley's gang, and the twins were having a slow and repetitive summer at the Dursleys.

Luckily, they wouldn't have to deal with Dudley's gang after this summer. Dudley and Piers were both going to Uncle Vernon's old boarding school called Smeltings while Harry and Journey would both be going to the local school called Stonewall High. The twins couldn't find fault with this arrangement because they knew that without their gang leaders, Dudley's gang wouldn't single them out any more than any other person. Dudley took to teasing them about having to go to a school where they shove people's heads down toilets on the first day but when he offered to 'practice' with Harry, Harry set him straight.

Towards the end of July the Dursleys went to London to buy Dudley's uniform for school, which meant that Harry and Journey were left to stay at Mrs. Figg's for the day. Surprisingly, Mrs. Figg let them watch television instead of looking at photos of her cats and fed them several-year-old chocolate cake, which pleased Harry to no end. Mrs. Figg told them how she broke her leg when she tripped over one of her cats, and Harry later told her that he knew they were not a good idea to be around. After watching the cats watch her with a much too intelligent gaze for a cat, Journey was inclined to agree.

When they went back to the Dursleys later that evening, Harry and Journey were forced to watch Dudley strut around in his new uniform. Harry and Journey both thought the whole affair was endlessly amusing. _'Whoever picked out those uniforms,'_ Journey thought, _'definitely needs their eyes checked.'_ The uniform for boys at Smeltings consisted of maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers and flat straw hats called boaters. While he walked around, Dudley also smacked everything he walked by with his knobbly stick that boys used for hitting each other when their teachers weren't looking while at Smeltings. Supposedly it was good training for later in life, but for the life of her Journey couldn't figure out how that worked.

Aunt Petunia cried as she watched her 'Ickle Dudleykins' walk around looking so handsome and grown-up and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley with a smile on his face before saying it was the proudest moment of his life. Harry and Journey couldn't speak or even look at each other without laughing.

After they were finally released from the room, Harry and Journey bolted upstairs to their room. Journey had barely shut the door before both twins collapsed in fits of laughter. Journey didn't know how long they laid there laughing, but when they had finally calmed down enough to talk (with only a few giggles or snickers escaping) Journey's stomach hurt and she had a stitch in her side.

"Man," Harry said before laughing again, "if that's what they have to wear at Smeltings, I'm so happy we don't have to go there. I'd take gray over maroon and orange any day."

Journey nodded in agreement before saying, "can you imagine what the girls' uniform would look like?" Journey shuddered at the thought.

Instead of practicing that night, Harry and Journey spent the remaining time they were awake discussing what they thought the girls' uniform would look like.

Both of the twins were tired the next morning, but couldn't bring themselves to regret staying up late the night before. When they went to eat breakfast however, Journey wished she had stayed in bed. There was an awful smell coming from two large metal tubs in the sink. Harry went to go have a closer look and dragged a reluctant Journey behind him. _'Why on earth does he think I would want to get closer to THAT?' _When she peered over the edge of the tub Journey wrinkled her nose. _'Why on earth,'_ Journey thought,_ 'is Aunt Petunia dying a bunch of rags gray?'_

Harry looked just as disgusted as Journey felt when he asked, "What's this?"

Aunt Petunia looked furious that Harry had dared to ask a question. Her lips tightened and for a second Journey thought she wasn't going to answer. Finally she said, "It's both of you school uniforms."

Harry and Journey looked at each other incredulously before turning back to the bowls. _'Please don't tell me she is serious …'_ Journey though in horror.

"Oh," Harry said causing Journey to look at him, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."

Journey couldn't help herself, she snorted at Harry's sense of humour before quickly turning it into a cough. Harry spared a small smirk at her before schooling his expression back into the innocent confusion just as Aunt Petunia looked sharply at him.

"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped. "When we were in London yesterday I stopped by a second hand shop. I'm dying some of the things I found gray for you so you'll look just like everyone else."

Harry and Journey shared a look, but knew better than to argue. They both sat at the kitchen table and began to eat breakfast feeling rather subdued. Journey knew that she and Harry would probably be the laughing stock of Stonewall High, and she had a feeling that was what Aunt Petunia hoped for. _'If anyone tries anything on Harry …' _Journey didn't finish the thought. For the rest of breakfast Journey thought up creative ways she could get back at people if they ever tried to hurt her brother.

Harry may have been the older of the twins (by a full day technically since he was born before midnight on July 31st while she was born after), but despite this fact Journey always felt protective of Harry. She didn't know why she felt like this, but reasoned it to be a combination of factors with the main one being she was the only one ever there for Harry. When Harry had dreams about their past, Journey would be there to hold him and murmur comforting words into his ear as she rocked him back to sleep, which could take all night if he dreamt about the night their parents died. After Dudley and his gang were feeling particularly vicious and hurt Harry more than usual, it was Journey who would patch him up as best she could before pouring some of her energy into him to speed up the healing of his injuries while ignoring the sting of her own. Whenever the twins got in trouble, from Dudley's or for something one of them actually did, Journey would stand up and take the fall so Harry wouldn't get in trouble. Journey was the one who made sure he got enough to eat when the Dursleys starved them, even when she felt hunger clawing at her own stomach.

Another reason that Journey felt protective of Harry was because he was just too … _nice_. Whenever Dudley's gang would beat them up, Harry would just sit there and take it after he got overpowered. Journey however, fought until they physically held her down and she couldn't move. She did this for several reasons, the primary reason being it distracted them from Harry. The second reason she did this was because more often than not, Journey would land at least one good hit on one of them (especially since they started taking martial arts classes), which mostly satisfied Journey's feelings of helplessness and made Dudley's gang a little hesitant to go after them. Journey's final reason wasn't really a reason at all, but she knew that if Dudley wanted to beat her up, he'd have to work for it. If Dudley's gang ever attacked Harry when she wasn't there, a myriad of misfortunes would befall them. They knew it was her who caused them all, but they could never prove it. Most of Dudley's gang hadn't realized the pattern of why misfortunes befell them, but she could see the wheels turning in a couple of the smarter (though not by much) members' of the groups heads.

Dudley's gang wasn't the only time Journey wanted to get revenge for Harry. Many people in the neighbourhood, from parents to teachers to kids, all believed the Dursleys lies about them. Harry would just walk with his head down trying to ignore it but Journey couldn`t do that. Whenever anyone said anything about her or Harry, but especially Harry, rage would fill Journey like a red haze. Usually she could control it but whenever anyone pushed her too far, things around Journey would spontaneously explode, or the person would suddenly find themselves with bright, fluorescent-coloured hair. Harry would tell Journey not to take anything those people say seriously, that they aren't worth it, but Journey knew better. She saw the hurt in her brother`s eyes every time someone said anything mean about them, and Journey wanted to take it away. She knew that she couldn`t really do anything, the neighbours would always believe the Dursleys over them, and that`s why she always felt so angry whenever anyone said anything. Journey hated feeling helpless, and that was how she felt after she saw Harry`s hurt eyes after every vicious comment or snide remark.

Journey was brought out of her musings when Uncle Vernon and Dudley came waddling in. They sat down (Journey swore she felt the table shake) before Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper. Dudley banged his ever-present Smeltings stick (he carried it everywhere like a two-year-old with a new toy) on the table before he started shovelling food into his mouth.

Several minutes passed before Uncle Vernon`s voice was heard from behind his paper. "Get the post, Dudley."

Dudley barely stopped eating long enough to say, "Make Harry get it."

"Get the post, Harry."

"Make Dudley get it."

Journey didn't believe that Harry actually thought that would work from how dejected his voice sounded. She was already beginning to stand up when Uncle Vernon said, "hit him with your Smeltings stick Dudley."

Dudley swung his stick at Harry from across the table, but Journey grabbed it before it could get anywhere near Harry. Dudley looked shocked and didn't even fight her when she used it to shove him roughly backwards. Journey was struck with inspiration. She was definitely going to find a way to put magic into her muscles to make her stronger for a small amount of time so that when she shoved Dudley, she would actually be able to move him. Dudley was still gaping at her like a fish, _'he's showing his intelligence level right now as he is about as smart as one too,'_ when she said, "_I'll _go get the post."

When she went into the hall to get the mail, Journey saw four things on the doormat. The first thing she picked up was a postcard from Uncle Vernon's horrid sister Marge, who was apparently ill after eating something that didn't agree with her. _'Good,' _Journey thought bitterly, _'maybe that means she won't be visiting us this summer.'_ The second item was a brown envelope that Journey figured was a bill, but it was the third letter that made her pause, it was a letter … for _Harry_.

Journey was shocked, neither of the twins _ever_ received mail (they had no one for them to receive mail _from_), yet out of the blue there was a random letter for Harry. She knew it wasn't a mistake just from looking at the address on the letter:

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**Dudley's Second Bedroom**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

Journey had a funny feeling in her stomach. Looking down at the last item, Journey's suspicions were confirmed when she saw her name on the letter.

_**Miss. J. Potter**_

_**Dudley's Second Bedroom**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

Both envelopes were thick and heavy as if there were several papers in each of them, and were made of yellowish parchment instead of paper. The ink used to address them was emerald-green and strangely there was no stamp.

Journey's hands were shaking when she turned the envelope over. She _knew _these letters were important, that it would change her and Harry's lives, and she was nervous. There was a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms she'd never seen before. In each corner of the seal, there was an animal, many of whom were not native to Britain at all. There was a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake, and all of them were surrounding a large letter 'H'.

"What's taking so long, girl?" she heard Uncle Vernon shout from the kitchen, "I'm pretty sure we don't need you to check for letter-bombs."

Journey's heart went to overdrive, barely hearing Uncle Vernon's chuckling at his own rather lame joke over the pounding of her furiously beating heart. She had a sudden urge, a feeling, and she suddenly _knew_ that she shouldn't let Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia see these letters. She was going to run upstairs quickly and hide them, but she heard Uncle Vernon's chair scrape across the floor and she panicked thinking he was coming out after her. She quickly shoved the letters up her shirt and tucked them a little into the waistband of her jeans before she hurried into the kitchen.

Journey's heart thundered as she forced herself to act normally. She felt as if everyone in the room could hear the loud beats of her heart as she handed the letters to Uncle Vernon, who had moved his chair to be closer to the bacon it seems, but no one said anything. Harry looked her strangely as she walked slowly around the table back to her seat while Uncle Vernon snorted in disgust at the bill before throwing it down, taking no notice of her at all.

Dudley noticed and he wanted revenge for being shoved earlier. When his father was informing Aunt Petunia about Marge's ill-health, he roughly punched Journey in the back.

Journey gasped in shock as she felt something pop in her back near her shoulder. She fell to the ground with a thud from the hit and pain laced through her from where the pop originated. Journey's left arm, the one that had been holding the letters, went limp and to her horror, the letters fell to the ground, right in front of Uncle Vernon who looked up to see what the noise was.

"Stealing our mail are you?" he glared at Journey. He got up and gave Journey a sharp kick in the stomach to move her away from the letters, before he picked them up and sat back down.

"They're," Journey tried to talk but couldn't find her voice because of the sudden coughing fit that took over her. She tried again, "they're _mine_! Mine and Harry's!"

Harry looked at her sharply and rushed over to her where she was struggling to get up. Uncle Vernon on the other hand, just ignored her from where he was opening one of their letters at the table with Dudley watched Journey's pain with glee.

When Uncle Vernon finally opened one of the letters, he took one of the pieces of paper-parchment Journey corrected-and began to read. Faster than Journey could blink, Uncle Vernon's face went from red to green and didn't stop. Within a few more seconds, he went a strange grayish white colour. _'Impressive,'_ Journey thought, _'whoever can cause _that_ kind of reaction in Uncle Vernon is definitely worth getting a letter from … _I_ can't even get a reaction that fast out of him.'_

Uncle Vernon struggled to say something. It took him several moments before he could finally gasp and say, "P-Petunia!"

Wanting to see what all the fuss was about, Dudley tried to snatch the letter out of his hand but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. _'Why doesn't he just go for the one on the table?'_ Journey thought through the pain, _'I'm sure they're the same … or at least similar since they were addressed the same and had the same seal on the back.'_

Aunt Petunia got up from her seat and walked over to Uncle Vernon to get the letter. She curiously took it and read the first few words before her face went pale. _'Wow,' _Journey thought in awe, _'making Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia react … these people are awesome!' Journey_ thought she would faint, but sadly all she did was clutch her throat and make a strange choking noise.

"Vernon! Oh my goodness – Vernon!"

They stared at the letter Aunt Petunia was holding, before they stared at each other. They seemed to forget there were even other people in the room. The twins were used to being ignored and didn't mind too much, but this was a brand new experience for Dudley, and he found he didn't like it. Trying to get his attention, Dudley gave his father a sharp smack on the head with his Smeltings stick before saying in a loud, obnoxious voice, "I want to read their letters."

Harry looked furious, more for the fact that Journey was in pain than anything else, but Journey was for once in too much pain to think about arguing. All she could feel was the pain that laced from her shoulder and it took all of her concentration to just watch what was going on, never mind get worked up over it.

"_I_ want to read the letter," Harry said furiously while looking worriedly at Journey, "as one of them are _mine_."

Uncle Vernon looked sharply at them as if he just remembered they were there. He stuffed the envelope into his pocket and said hoarsely, "Get out, both of you."

Journey didn't move. She looked pleadingly at Harry, trying to convey that they _needed_ those letters.

Harry nodded to show he understood and Journey was glad for the special connection they shared. At times, usually when they were really stressed but occasionally at other times, they were able to share a special connection with each other. Journey always knew when Harry was in pain or was feeling strong emotions such as fear, since she would feel an echo of it in her own body and the same went for him. Remembering this, Journey focused on something else, forcing her mind not to register the pain coming from her shoulder. Harry frowned at her, and Journey got the impression that they'd talk later about that particular habit of hers.

All of this happened in a few seconds, long enough for Dudley to demand to see the letter again. Remembering why he wasn't moving, Harry got angry again. He took a breath and shouted, "I WANT OUR LETTERS!"

"GET OUT!" Uncle Vernon roared. He took Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall while Journey slowly walked behind them. She tried to subtly swipe the other letter that was still on the table, but just at that moment Aunt Petunia picked it up with a shaky hand so Journey kept walking like nothing was wrong.

Journey had barely walked through the doorway when Uncle Vernon slammed the kitchen door shut. Dudley and Harry, who now seriously wanted to know what was in those letters that was making Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon react like that, promptly had a silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole. Journey didn't stay to watch who won, as she had a better spot to eavesdrop. She went upstairs and carefully laid down by the vent that was outside the bathroom being careful not to bump her left arm or shoulder which still stung painfully. All of the vents in the house were connected and this one was right above the kitchen so she barely needed to quiet her breathing to hear what Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were saying.

"Vernon," Aunt Petunia's voice shook as she spoke, "look at the address – thank goodness we let them out of cupboard! They know where they _sleep_! Do you think they're watching the house?"

Journey hadn't thought of that before and frowned at the thought. How _did_ they know where she and Harry slept? And the fact that it wasn't even their room? The letter called it Dudley's Second Bedroom, but how did it know that it was still officially Dudley's room? It was kind of creepy, and Journey resolved to ask as soon as she found out just who _they _were.

"Watching," Uncle Vernon mutter sounding wild, "spying maybe, they might even be following us."

"What are we going to do, Vernon? Should we write back and tell them we don't want – '

There was a pause before Uncle Vernon answered, "No … we'll ignore them. If they don't receive a reply … yes, I think that would be best … we just won't answer …"

"I don't think –"

"I'm not having that freakishness in this house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took them in that we'd squash that dangerous nonsense out of them?"

Aunt Petunia didn't answer, and she heard Uncle Vernon's heavy footfalls approach he door followed by shuffling from what she assumed was Harry and Dudley scrambling away from the door. She got up as quickly as she could and walked over to her and Harry's room. As she did she thought about what she had just heard. _'What dangerous nonsense was Uncle Vernon talking about?'_ she mused, _'… could he mean our abilities? … that would mean that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon _knew_ what was going on this whole time, maybe not that we were practicing but at least that we had them … if these letters have something to do with our abilities … then that means there are more people like us!'_

Journey suddenly felt excited. Maybe she and Harry weren't the freaks that Aunt Petunia always said they were, maybe there were more people like them! At the thought of freaks, Journey's eyes narrowed. _'Freaks,' _she thought slowly, feeling that she was about to understand something major, _'Aunt Petunia has always called us freaks … especially when anything strange or abnormal happens … but …wait –'_

Just then, Harry's voice startled her out of her thoughts. "What was that all about?" he asked confused as he gestured with his arm in the general direction of the door before saying, "let me see you shoulder."

"It's fine," Journey said quickly even as she felt a fresh wave of pain hit her.

Harry snorted, "And I'm Santa Claus. Now –"

"Nice to meet you Santa," Journey interrupted, "for Christmas, I would like a pony and a dolly and –"

"Wow Journ," Harry said as he rolled his eyes, "very funny. I'm not an idiot. Did you forget that I can _feel_ when you're in pain? Let me help you."

Harry didn't wait for her to respond before he walked over to her. Journey sighed, she _hated_ feeling vulnerable or helpless, and right now she felt both. She didn't protest when Harry lightly ran his fingers over her shoulder.

She gasped when Harry suddenly pressed harder on her shoulder. Pain rushed through her from where he pressed and Journey's vision swam before her. Black dots danced around her eyes as she tried to focus on something other than the pain she was feeling, which was much easier said than done.

Harry waited for her to steady herself before he said, "I think you've dislocated it, like that one older guy at the rec that one time. I think we just need to pop it back in but I'm not sure."

"Do it," Journey said without hesitation, "I remember. If that's what this is, I should be mostly fine once you pop it back in."

Harry looked uneasy, "Are you sure."

"Positive."

"Okay," he said slowly, "here goes nothing. On the count of three. One …"

It felt like someone poured fire into her shoulder. She bit her lip trying to prevent herself from gasping at the pain. Black spots, more than before, swam in front of her eyes, and the edges of her vision started to turn black. She fought to focus on something else, and found Harry's hand in hers. She focused on that and slowly the pain left. It didn't go away completely, there was still a dull ache in her shoulder, but it was much better than before.

Harry was rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand, Journey realized. Journey smiled at Harry, "Thanks. It feels better now."

Harry smiled back. "Liar," he said but without any real accusation in his voice, "I know it still hurts."

"Compared to before," Journey reminded him, "this is nothing."

Harry nodded, "I guess."

"Hey, Harry," Journey began slowly, "you know how Aunt Petunia always called us freaks?"

Harry nodded slowly, how could he forget?

"Uncle Vernon said that he wouldn't have anything to do with that in his house," Journey mused, thinking about her previous thoughts on the subject, "so I think these letters have something to do with that."

Harry frowned, "what do you mean?"

Not quite sure how to explain, Journey tried to put her jumbled thoughts into words. "Whenever anything strange happens around us, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon always yell at us for our 'freakishness'. I'd never thought about it before, but when Uncle Vernon talked about how they would squash this 'nonsense' out of us, it just suddenly made sense."

Harry still looked confused. Journey tried to explain again with a bit more urgency. He _had_ to make him understand, even if she didn't fully. "Harry, they _knew_ that we were different! That we had these abilities all along! They thought if they kept us downtrodden, they'd be able to squeeze the abilities out of use!"

The widening of Harry's eyes relieved Journey, _'he understands.'_

"B-But," Harry stuttered, "why did the letter scare them so much?"

Journey smiled, that was the question she was looking for. "Well, I was thinking about that earlier," Harry looked at her sharply, "I think this letter has something to do with our abilities!"

Harry looked at her expectantly, expecting her to go on. When she didn't he stuck his tongue out at her before his brow furrowed in thought. After several seconds Harry spoke. "That would mean," he began slowly with comprehension dawning on his face, "that there are other people with abilities like us!"

Journey's smile had never been bigger. "Exactly."

Harry's face split into a smile of his own. "Maybe they would be able to teach us how to control them better?"

Journey hadn't thought of that. "Maybe," she said slowly, "I thought of something else too. Aunt Petunia always calls us freaks, right?"

Harry looked confused, "Yeah, haven't we gone over this?"

Journey nodded impatiently, "Yeah but listen. She calls us freaks because of our abilities …"

"Right," Harry said slowly, "and?"

"She calls our parents freaks too."

Harry looked thunderstruck and Journey wasn't much better off. The thought had been taunting her, floating around the edges of her mind but never fully forming. She hadn't even realized what she had been saying when she blurted it out, but it had suddenly clicked and she couldn't stop herself.

"That would mean …" Harry couldn't even finish the sentence, "… does that mean … our parents … you think they had these abilities as well?"

"I don't think, I _know_," Journey said with conviction. And it was true. Now that she had made the connection, she _knew_ she was right.

Journey explained everything she knew about the letters to Harry. Afterwards, Harry and Journey sat in silence for several minutes, trying to wrap their minds about what they now knew, when the door to their room suddenly banged open.

"Where's our letters?" Harry and Journey said simultaneously the moment Uncle Vernon stepped through the door. "Who's writing us?"

Uncle Vernon looked unnerved for a moment, as he always did whenever Harry and Journey spoke at the same time, before he shook himself. "No one is writing you. I've burned them," he said shortly, "they were addressed to you by mistake."

Journey stopped short, _'he burned them?'_ Dread filled her, she _knew_ they were important, life changing, letters, and their Uncle _burned_ them?

Harry however, didn't miss a beat. "It was _not_ a mistake," he said angrily, "they knew we were sleeping in Dudley's second bedroom even!"

"SILENCE, BOY!" Uncle Vernon roared. He forced a smile onto his face, which looked pretty painful. _'Probably because he never uses those muscles,'_ Journey thought viciously as she watched Harry shrink back from the voice.

"Er – yes, Harry … and Journey too – about this being Dudley's second bedroom. We – your Aunt and I – have decided that … well you're getting older now … we think it would be nice if it officially became your bedroom. You'd have to share … and take all of Dudley's things out into the hall so he can see what he still wants … but it'd be yours."

"Why now?" Journey asked suspiciously.

Uncle Vernon turned sharply in her directions. "No questions!" he snapped. "Take all Dudley's stuff into the hall … now!"

With that, Uncle Vernon turned and left the room. Harry and Journey looked at each other, then at Dudley's stuff that they had piled together, which took up half of the room. Almost everything was broken; from the rifle Dudley sat on to the first television he'd ever owned that he put his foot through in a fit of rage. Slowly, Harry and Journey brought everything into the hall in front of the door to the guest bedroom (which was the fourth bedroom in the house and yet Harry and Journey had had to share the cupboard under the stairs for the majority of their life, and would still be there if it wasn't for Journey). They even brought the books (that they'd both read already) out, even though they knew they'd be sent straight to the bin.

That night Journey and Harry lay in bed quietly. They had listened to Dudley wail to his mother about how he _needed _that room and didn't _want_ to get rid of any of his things, as they were _his_. Journey silently cursed. _'He could have all of his junk … hell he could have this entire room and I'd go back to the cupboard, if I could read that letter.'_

The next day, everyone ate in silence. Dudley seemed to be in shock. He'd thrown another tantrum, worse than the last one, and he _still_ didn't have his room back. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon kept looking at each other darkly when they thought no one was looking.

It was so silent in the kitchen that they actually heard the letters sliding through the slot in the front door. Uncle Vernon was still pretending (quite pathetically) to be nice to the twins, and made Dudley go and get it. Dudley was furious but did as his father asked, banging his Smeltings stick on everything he passed along the way. Suddenly, they heard Dudley shout, "There's more! _**Mr. H. Potter**_,_** The Smallest Bedroom**_, _**4 Privet Drive**_ –"

Uncle Vernon gave a strangled cry as he leapt from his chair and ran after Dudley, Harry and Journey right behind him. Uncle Vernon wrestled Dudley to the ground to get the letter he was holding, while Harry grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck as he jumped on his back.

While the boys wrestled around for the letter Dudley was holding, Journey simply bent down and picked up the one that was still on the ground, her letter. She quickly opened it and began reading:

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**_

_**Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. for Wizards)**_

_**Dear Miss Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that **_–

Journey didn't get to see what they were so pleased to inform her about, as the letter was suddenly ripped from her hands. She looked up to see Uncle Vernon's face, which resembled a beetroot with a moustache (_'Anger level 10,'_ Journey thought in awe) and was breathing heavily.

"What – did you – read," Uncle Vernon wheezed as he pointed a threatening finger at her.

Seconds ticked by. It was one of the few times she didn't _know_ what was the right choice, and it always left her floundering like a fish out of water. She didn't know if she should tell the truth, or lie and say she hadn't read anything. Looking at Uncle Vernon's face, she knew she needed to decide quickly.

"All I saw," Journey said thinking quickly, "was the word 'Hogwarts'."

Uncle Vernon breathed a sigh of relief. "Good," he said, "all of you – yes you too Dudley – go to your rooms … now!"

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

That night, Harry had a plan. He'd been thinking about it all day. Journey had told him what she had really read in the letter, and it only confirmed their suspicions that there were more people like them … even if they had no idea what a 'Mugwump' was.

They wondered why a school would be writing a letter to them, but they didn't dwell on it since they didn't want to get their hopes up.

'_Back to the plan,'_ Harry thought.

Harry woke up at six o'clock the next morning with the help of an old alarm clock that he had repaired. He shut it off quickly and glanced at Journey, thankfully she was still asleep. Journey always came up with the best plans and he wanted to show her that he too could make successful plans, so he hadn't told her what he was doing.

Silently, Harry crept out of bed and got changed. He slowly turned the doorknob, watching Journey the whole time to make sure she didn't wake up, before stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him.

Harry's plan was quiet simple. He was going to sneak outside, then wait for the postman at the end of Privet Drive. He would get the mail, take his and Journey's letters, before sliding the rest of the mail through the slot like nothing had happened. Then he would run to his and Journey's room and hide the letters before pretending he never saw them.

Everything was going perfectly to plan. No one was up yet to stop him from reaching his destination. Harry's heart hammered out of fear of being caught and in excitement of _finally_ being able to read those stupid letters. Harry was reaching towards the doorknob and –

"AAARRRGGAAAHHH!"

Harry jumped back. _'There's something alive down there!'_ Harry thought in horror. He had just stepped on something big, and now it was moving!

Lights flickered on and voices sounded from upstairs. Harry looked at the thing he had stepped on in horror, it was Uncle Vernon's face! Harry's uncle was just getting out of the sleeping bag he was in, and he looked furious. Apparently, he had been waiting here making sure that he got the letters first, and that Harry or Journey wouldn't do the exact thing Harry had been planning on doing.

Uncle Vernon was just starting to rant at Harry when Journey came downstairs already dressed. She cut off Uncle Vernon's rant in midsentence, "It's my fault Uncle Vernon. I made Harry get up this morning and try and get the letters before anyone was awake."

Uncle Vernon paused in his rant while Harry looked at Journey pleadingly. "That's not true Uncle Vernon," Harry began but Journey cut him off.

"Don't try and cover for me Harry," Journey said, "I feel bad enough as it is that you got caught."

Harry watched as Uncle Vernon started ranting at Journey instead of him feeling uneasy. He didn't understand why Journey always felt the need to get in trouble for him. Harry hardly ever got in trouble because of it, the only times he did was when Journey was nowhere near the incident and Harry took the blame before she could say she made him do it. Harry knew that it didn't really bother Journey, getting in trouble that is. He could tell by the way she would square her shoulders and look Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia right in the face when they were yelling at her, like she was doing now. She never complained or tried to protest her punishment, and Harry envied her for being able to do that.

Harry waited for Journey the whole time she was getting yelled at (which wasn't really a long time since Uncle Vernon always got unnerved when he saw Journey just standing there defiantly, staring at him) before they were both sent to go make tea. Harry shuffled miserably into the kitchen, still upset that his plan had failed and Journey got in trouble for it, but Journey walked in as if it were any other morning and the whole incident had never happened.

As he was making tea Harry whispered to Journey, "I'm sorry."

Journey didn't miss a beat as she grabbed some cups from the cupboard. "Don't worry about it Harry," she whispered, "it was nothing." She turned her face slightly to smirk at Harry as she said, "Besides, having Uncle Vernon's face squashed in was definitely a good way to wake up this morning. But next time, wake me up when you are planning something, okay?"

Harry had just begun to smile (thinking about Uncle Vernon's face being squished under his foot), before he sighed sadly at the last part of Journey's sentence. "I wanted-," Harry cut himself off, he didn't want to sound like an idiot.

Journey didn't let him off the hook though. "What did you want?"

Harry took a deep breath and braced himself. "Well," he began, "you always come up with the best plans. Like how you got back at Dudley that one time when he tried to cheat off you or the time when Piers bullied that little girl. I just … I just wanted to show you that … that I could make good plans too." Harry quickly looked at the ground, ashamed at what he was about to admit, "I wanted you to be proud of me."

Journey stopped what she was doing. Harry looked up and saw she had a peculiar look on her face, and thinking she was going to yell at him, Harry quickly looked back down.

Harry jerked a little when he felt a hand on his chin, gently guiding his head to look Journey right in the eyes. Journey looked at him for several moments, long enough for Harry to feel a trickle of fear around all of his uneasiness. _'What if she laughs at me for it?' _He thought desperately, _'or worse … she gets angry?'_

Journey did neither of these things. Instead, she pulled Harry into a tight hug. Harry was shocked for a second, he had been so sure Journey was going to laugh, before he hugged Journey just as tightly.

"Oh, Harry," Journey whispered into his hair, "You don't need to do anything special to make me proud of you. Making drawn-out plans isn't your thing, so what? I couldn't garden if my life depended on it. You have so many other talents Harry! You're the smartest boy I know, and I've never seen anyone better at gymnastics at our age than you! And I don't think we could go anywhere in the world and find someone nicer than you. Every day you do something – many things – that makes me proud of you, you're my brother and I'm always proud of you. I love you."

Harry felt his eyes burn as tears threatened to leak out. It didn't matter that right at that moment they could hear Uncle Vernon shouting that more of those dratted letters had arrived or that he didn't go to work that day and nailed up the letterbox instead. It didn't matter that he may have screwed up his chances of ever reading his letter. None of that mattered, because Journey was proud of him.

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

Over the next two days, letters began to get themselves into the house in the most unexpected of ways.

On Friday when the letters couldn't make their way through the letterbox, they forced themselves beneath the door and through the sides, and even through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. This made Uncle Vernon stay home from work again to burn all of the letters, before he sealed every single crack on the front and back door so nothing could get in or out. He became very paranoid and would jump at the smallest of noises (Journey took great fun in this and would use little bits of energy to knock things over just to frighten Uncle Vernon).

On Saturday, even more letters found their way into the house. This time, it was inside of the two dozen eggs that were handed to Aunt Petunia by the very confused milkman through the living room window. Aunt Petunia shredded them in the food processor while Uncle Vernon yelled at the post office over the phone.

Dudley looked at Harry and Journey in amazement, "Who would ever want to talk to _either_ of you this badly?"

Uncle Vernon looked rather ill and had a slightly insane smile on his face, when he sat down for breakfast on Sunday morning.

"Well, today is going to be a great day," he said cheerfully before reminding everyone, "as there is no post today since its Sunday."

Harry and Journey watched, amused, as Uncle Vernon spread marmalade on his newspaper while he said, "No damn letters today –"

Something suddenly flew down the chimney while he was speaking and smacked Uncle Vernon right in the face. Harry and Journey didn't have time to laugh before suddenly, what seemed like a hundred letters came pouring out of the fireplace as fast as bullets.

The Dursleys began to duck and were shouting, but Harry and Journey both stood up. Harry tried leaping into the air to grab one, while Journey tried to get one that was flying around on the ground. Just as she would reach them, another letter would smack into the one she was reaching for and would send it flying in another direction.

"Get out!" Uncle Vernon shouted, "OUT!"

Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry around the waist and Journey by the arm before he threw them both into the hall. After Aunt Petunia and Dudley ran out of the room (screaming in terror with their arms over their faces), Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could all hear the sounds of the letters flying around the room and bouncing off the walls, the floor, the chairs and everything else in the room.

"That's it," Uncle Vernon said trying to stay calm. It worked (his voice was rather steady) except for the fact that he was starting to rip out chunks of his moustache at the same time. "All of you go grab some clothes and be back in five minutes. Just clothes. No arguments!"

Uncle Vernon looked so dangerous (and ridiculous) with half his moustache gone that everyone, even Dudley, did what he said without arguing. Fifteen minutes later everyone had forced their way through the boarded-up doors and they were driving away in the car. Dudley was sitting dejectedly in the back seat beside Journey. His father had smacked him in the head, for the first time ever, for holding everyone up by trying to pack almost his entire room into his sports bag.

They drove for hours, stopping only for gas. No one, not even Aunt Petunia, dared to ask where they were going. After every hour or so, Uncle Vernon would turn sharply and drive in a completely different direction all the while muttering, "Shake 'em off … just shake them off …"

They didn't even stop to eat, much to Dudley's horror. By night-time Dudley was on the verge of tears while he screamed at his mother for having such a bad day. He was hungry, missed several TV shows he wanted to see and hadn't ever gone so long without playing a computer game.

They finally stopped outside a sketchy-looking hotel outside a big city. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon shared a room, while Dudley and the twins were forced to share a room that only had two twin beds. Harry and Journey didn't even think to argue when they were told that they had to share as they'd been doing it for years. Dudley quickly fell asleep, but Harry and Journey stayed awake. Harry and Journey both stared through the window, Harry from his spot on the windowsill and Journey from the bed, thinking about everything and nothing late into the night.

The next morning, everyone ate a meagre breakfast in the hotel dining area. Just when they were about to get up, the owner of the hotel walked over to their table and said, " 'Scuse me, but are any one of you Mr. H. Potter or Miss J. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."

The manager held up one of the letters she was holding, Harry's letter, so that they could clearly see the address written in the sae green ink as the others:

_**Mr H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

Both Harry and Journey tried to make a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon got there first and said, "I'll take them if you don't mind." The woman gave them all a strange look, obviously wondering what the heck was going on, and led Uncle Vernon out of the dining area.

Hours later, they were on the road again. Aunt Petunia had quietly suggested that they just go home, but Uncle Vernon either didn't hear her or he was so far gone in his madness that he thought driving around aimlessly for two days was a good idea. Journey thought it was the latter option and Harry agreed with her when she whispered to him during a break for gas.

No one had any idea what Uncle Vernon was trying to accomplish, and no one asked him. They had stopped in a forest, a field, halfway across a bridge, and on the top of a parking garage. Each time he would do this, Uncle Vernon would get out of the car, look around for a bit before shaking his head and getting back inside to drive in the opposite direction.

The highlight of Journey's day was sometime in the afternoon after Uncle Vernon had stopped on the coast and locked them all in the car before disappearing somewhere. Dudley had looked at his mother and muttered pitifully, "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?"

Journey had to suppress her laughter in a sudden, violent coughing fit while Harry just smiled faintly. The whole wild affair was affecting him more than Journey, and he had been silently staring out the window for the majority of the trip. The fact that it was raining seemed to make Harry even more depressed since he hated the rain.

Journey was trying to think of a way to take Harry's mind off of things (which was easier said than done since they couldn't really do anything in the cramped car besides play I-Spy which they wore out hours ago) when Dudley suddenly spoke up again.

"Today's Monday," he said to his mother miserably, "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a _television_."

Harry and Journey looked sharply at each other. _'Monday,'_ they both thought. If the twins could count on Dudley for anything, it would be knowing the days of the week because of television. Monday would be Harry's birthday and the following day would be Journey's. They had different birthdays because of the times of their births and they both thought that was really cool since a person didn't often come across twins born on different days. Aunt Petunia however, thought that their birthdays' being on different days was very strange and just one more sign of their 'freakishness'. This led to the Dursleys giving Harry and Journey horrible presents, like coat hangers and extra chores, so their birthdays were hardly ever enjoyable. The only gifts they had ever received were homemade gifts from each other, which was good enough for them. They didn't expect this year to be any different, except for the fact they would likely get no gifts at all since they couldn't really go out and get any since they were trapped in a car. _'Still,' _Journey thought,_ 'you don't turn eleven every day.'_

When Uncle Vernon came back, he was smiling a crazy smile making Journey think that he had finally gone off the deep end. He carried a long, thin package and ignored Aunt Petunia when she asked what it was.

He unlocked the doors and told them all to exit the car, crazy smile still fixed firmly upon his face. Journey shivered in the cold air outside the car and felt as if her stomach had fallen through her feet when she saw where Uncle Vernon told them they were staying that night. Barely visible was the tiniest little shack on top of a large rock out at sea. _'Never mind having a television,'_ Journey thought,_ 'there won't even be any food or solid walls out there!'_

Uncle Vernon happily informed all of them that there was a storm forecast for the night. Journey didn't know whether to cry or hit Uncle Vernon when she saw the rickety old boat they were supposed to row across in. In the end, she decided on neither and just gave Uncle Vernon a mildly disgusted glare that clearly showed her thoughts on the matter. The toothless old man who was lending it to them saw her look and gave her a grin that left Journey with the impression that he was laughing at them.

After informing them that he had bought some rations, Uncle Vernon loaded them all into the boat and set off.

Being in the boat was worse than Journey imagined. She had _known_ that the ride would be unpleasant, but it was worse than she thought. The cold air was just the beginning of the long, miserable ride to the hut. Waves from the oncoming storm crashed into the boat on all sides and more often than not, would splash into the boat and soak everyone to the bone. What Journey really hated wasn't the water, it was the wind. There was a horrible cold wind that seemed to come from all directions and would cut into them and make their hair fly around their faces. Journey could barely see because her hair would keep sticking to her face and the wind made the effects of the water feel even worse on her body.

If she thought the storm was bad, it was nothing to how Harry looked. Harry looked worse than she felt and that was saying something. He had curled up into a ball at the side of the boat and was shaking horribly. Ignoring her own discomfort, Journey moved closer to him and wrapped her body around him, shielding him from the worst of the waves and the wind. She didn't say anything, she just held him close to her while she tried to block out her surroundings.

After what seemed like hours of being repeatedly drenched by the waves, Journey jerked into awareness when the boat suddenly made a loud thudding noise. Looking up, she saw that the noise was from the boat hitting a small stretch of sand on the rock they would be staying on. Harry and Journey miserably made their way up to the hut, which looked even worse close up. It was lopsided and didn't the walls were only made out of thin planks of wood.

The inside was even worse than the outside if that were even possible. Journey couldn't go anywhere in the two-room shack without it smelling as if the whole thing was covered in seaweed. There were gaps in the wooden walls where numerous planks were missing, which left no protection from the wind that they could hear howling outside.

They ate Uncle Vernon's 'rations' which consisted of a packet of crisps for each of them along with some bananas. Journey tried to give her banana to Harry, who had eaten his rations in less than a minute he was so hungry. Harry refused, but Journey persisted by saying she didn't like bananas. Harry wouldn't relent and they ended up each eating half of the banana.

After they ate, Uncle Vernon tried to start a fire using the empty crisp packets, but all they did was smoke a little and shrivel up.

"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he asked jovially.

He was in a much too happy mood for being in a shack in the middle of nowhere and Journey knew why. He obviously thought that no one would be able to send a letter through the storm to this tiny rock. At first, Journey privately agreed before the thought that she was actually _agreeing_ with Uncle Vernon made her feel almost sick. She tried to think positively. _'If they were able to send a hundred letters to us while we were staying in a random hotel, then they will be able to find a way to send us just one letter …well two since there would be one for me and one for Harry … they'd be able to send us each one letter out to this stupid shack.'_ The longer she thought about it, the more confident she became in herself. Her confidence grew to the point where she almost felt she _knew_ that by tomorrow morning she and Harry would get a letter.

The promised storm finally hit just as Aunt Petunia began to set up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa with a few blankets that Journey couldn`t even tell the colour of since they were covered in mould and were in such bad shape. Wind rattled the dirty-covered windows and waves crashed against rock and sprayed against the sides of the hut.

Aunt Petunia left the thinnest, most ragged blanket for Harry and Journey to share, before she and Uncle Vernon went to sleep in the uncomfortable-looking bed that was in the other room. The twins didn't mind that they had to share since they would have anyways being as cold as they were. Harry and Journey lay down onto the floor and draped the blanket over as much of them as they could before they cuddled together to try and keep warm.

As the night wore on, the storm got worse. Neither Harry nor Journey could sleep and they ended up tossing and turning all night. For once, they couldn't hear Dudley's snores over the claps of thunder that seemed to have no end.

'_Speaking of Dudley,'_ Journey thought before looking more closely at Dudley's wrist. More specifically, she looked at the digital watch that was on Dudley's wrist. The glowing face of the watch told Journey that there was fifteen minutes to midnight.

Journey nudged Harry and pointed at the watch. A small smile crept onto his face when he saw how close he was to being eleven.

The minutes seemed to drag by. Journey thought about what she could possibly get Harry as a birthday gift if they ever got off this rock. Soon it was five minutes until midnight and Journey began to feel something build within her, the feeling that something _big_ was going to happen. Something life changing.

Time seemed to go faster again as the feeling grew. She didn't even register the strange sounds that were coming from outside she was so caught up in trying to figure out what this strange feeling was trying to tell her. By the time there was a minute left, the feeling had completely filled her and was screaming at her to do … _something_.

She looked back at Dudley's watch, hoping it would distract her. There was just ten seconds left until midnight … six – Harry was practically beaming in excitement – three – two – one –

BOOM!

Harry and Journey both jumped and sat straight up when the whole shack shook around them. Journey's strange feeling was ringing in her ears as she realized that somehow, someone was outside … and they were knocking to come in …

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

**amethystdreamstar: Holy cow that was a long chapter. 12000 words! Sorry for most of this chapter being really slow, especially after the last one being really slow as well. I promise things will start to pick up now.**

**It was brought to my attention that Journey's name is really bad … to be honest I kinda just picked it a random as a place-holder for when I decided a name and then was too lazy to change it later. If you guys want, I could change her name. I was thinking of either Raelyn (Ray) Iris or Jade Lanaya Potter or having her middle name as Lily I'm not sure. Review if you think that her name should be changed or if I should just leave it. If enough people they tell me they want it changed, I will go through each chapter and fix it and from here on out I will keep using that name.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially since you all were very honest about what you thought of my story :)**

**Also, MarkerBarker78 brought up something that I was going to bring up eventually, but I thought I'd bring it up now. Since Harry Potter is (obviously) about Harry Potter, he (I'm assuming you're a guy but please correct me if I'm wrong) said that I should have some Harry POV. I put in a small section of Harry POV in this chapter but I'm not sure if I want to continue like that. This story was mostly going to follow Journey's POV but I had been thinking about doing every few chapters from Harry's POV. I could do it that way, or, for every chapter from Journey's POV (going to Diagon Alley, Sorting etc) I could do another from Harry's POV. Review and let me know what you think I should do (I don't **_**really**_** want to do the last one, but if a lot of people want me too – not that I would know since I've only had 4 reviews – then I will)**

**So in short, review if you think Journey's name should or should not change, and whether or not you want Harry's POV and how I should write it.**

**August 11, 2011**


	5. Chapter 5: Giants Pigs and Goblins o my!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Everything that is ****underlined**** is taken directly from the book.**

"talking"

'_thought'_

'_**written words'**_

**Chapter 5: Giants, Pigs and Goblins oh my!**

BOOM! Harry and Journey backed into the wall as the whole shack shook for a second time. Dudley jerked awake and shouted something about cannons just as Uncle Vernon crashed into the room. He was holding a rifle that Journey guessed came from the long package he bought earlier, and was shaking slightly as he shouted, "Who's that? I – I'm warning you … I have a gun!"

There was a small pause and Journey thought whoever it was had left before –

SMASH!

Whoever was behind the door hit it with so much force that it came right off its hinges and crashed into the floor.

Journey stared at fallen door fearfully with her heart beating a mile a minute, hoping that whoever it was that did that went after Dudley first so she and Harry could run. She slowly looked up into the doorway, dreading what she would see.

A giant-like man was standing where the door used to be. He had wild hair that looked like it didn't even know what a comb _was_ never mind having actually _used _one. His beard was in the same wild state and covered a large portion of his face, leaving only his glinting black eyes. The rest of his body was covered in a long, black coat that ended just before the floor.

As the giant managed to squeeze his way through the doorway, Journey began to relax. If this man were actually a threat to her or Harry, she would _know_ it. Even though he could easily have squashed all of them, judging by the way he picked up the door and put it back into its frame as if it were a puzzle piece, she felt almost … safe with him.

Her feelings about him not being dangerous to them were confirmed when he spoke. He had a loud voice that easily overpowered the sounds of the thunderstorm outside but at the same time wasn't at all threatening. "Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh?" he asked, "It's not been an easy journey …"

It took him two steps to walk over to the sofa where Dudley sat, petrified.

"Budge up, yeh great lump," the intruder said.

Dudley made a strange squeaking noise and ran behind his mother, who was having a strange coughing fit and was cowering behind Uncle Vernon, to hide. Journey was pretty shocked that both Aunt Petunia _and_ Dudley could fit behind Uncle Vernon but didn't have time to dwell on it when the giant spoke again.

"An' here's Harry! Oh an' little Journey too!" the giant exclaimed.

Journey whipped her head around to look at the giant who she guessed was smiling considering the way his eyes were crinkled. _'How does he know our names?'_ she thought suspiciously.

The giant answered her question almost as if he knew she was thinking about it. "Las' time I saw either o' you, you were only babies," he said, "Harry, yeh look just like yer dad, but with yer mum's eyes. An' Journey seems like you couldn't 'scape the ol' Potter curse of havin' wild hair even tho' yer a girl. You look a lot like yer mum other than tha'."

Journey didn't even think to be indignant about the hair comment she was so shocked about what the giant had said. This was the first time anyone had volunteered any information about their parents and to hear that she looked like them … it gave her a strange feeling.

Uncle Vernon broke the moment with a strange rasping noise that Journey realized was supposed to be speech. "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he rasped out. "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant. He reached one of his giant arms out over the back of the sofa and roughly took the gun out of Uncle Vernon's shaking hands. The giant then proceeded to easily bend the metal gun into a knot as if it were instead made of rubber and tossed it into the far corner of the room.

Uncle Vernon made a strange noise like something being stepped on, but Journey looked at the giant in awe. _'If this giant can scare Uncle Vernon that easily,' _Journey thought,_ 'then he is definitely alright in my books.'_

"Now then," said the giant turning back to the twins, "Harry firs' I'd like to wish yeh a very happy birthday. I got summat fer yeh here."

He reached into a large pocket in his overcoat and pulled out a slightly squashed box. Looking at it he said, "I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."

Harry opened the box with trembling fingers. Journey peeked over his shoulder to see a large cake with the words _Happy Birthday Harry_ written in green icing on it. Both Harry and Journey were speechless at the sight of it. They had _never_ gotten such a nice gift from anyone.

Harry looked like he was trying to say something. He tried several times before he was finally able to say, "Who are you?" Journey nudged him and he started before saying quickly, "Oh, and thank you!"

The giant chuckled showing he didn't care about Harry momentarily forgetting his manners before saying, "Guess I haven't introduced meself have I? Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

He held out his hand that easily dwarfed both of their hands. Harry's whole arm shook when he took his hand before he let go and the giant proceeded to do the same thing to Journey.

"What about that tea then, eh?" the giant asked rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."

Journey was mildly amused that he was acting as if barging into where people were staying and talking about tea was perfectly normal. He somehow managed to start a roaring fire in the fireplace which made Harry and Journey subtly exchange excited looks. The warmth washed over them and they both shuffled a little closer to the fire.

They watched the giant take random objects out of his seemingly endless amounts of pockets. He not only made tea but also several sausages whose delicious aroma quickly filled the hut as they were being cooked, making Dudley fidget a little. Uncle Vernon noticed and sharply told him not to touch anything given to him, making the giant chuckle again.

"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' any more, Dursley, don' worry."

Harry and Journey were both given a sausage from the giant, which after not eating for so long tasted absolutely wonderful.

They ate in silence for several minutes before Harry suddenly spoke. "I'm sorry, but I still don't understand who you are."

The giant took a gulp of tea before answering. "Call me Hagrid," he said jovially, "everyone does. An like I told yeh, I'm keeper of keys at Hogwarts – yeh'll know all about Hogwarts o' course."

Journey's suspicions were confirmed. This _did_ have something to do with the letters. She was about to say something when Harry spoke quietly, "Er – no."

Harry quickly apologized at Hagrid's shocked look, but Hagrid had none of it. "_Sorry__?_" he barked and turned to stare furiously at the Dursleys, who cowered further into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't getting' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learnt it all?"

Harry smiled at Journey, they were _finally_ going to learn about their powers. As soon as the excitement built within her, another feeling took her over. She suddenly _knew_ that they shouldn't talk about their own abilities. She didn't know why , they'd been waiting for this moment since they figured out their parents likely had abilities as well, but this feeling was stronger than any other feeling she had had before so she wasn't about to ignore it.

Seeing Harry still looking at her, now with a confused look on his face, Journey shook her head slowly. She tried to send her feeling to Harry and she guessed it worked since Harry nodded showing he understood even if he frowned about it.

Hagrid didn't notice any of this as he had taken a long swig from his tea, but he definitely noticed when Harry asked, "All what?"

There was a moment of pause, before Hagrid started shouting. "ALL WHAT?" his voice thundered throughout the shack, "Now wait jus' one second!"

He jumped to his feet in anger. His presence filled the whole hut and Journey watched in awe as the Dursleys cowered into the wall before Hagrid as he growled at them. "Do you mean ter tell me, that this boy – this boy! – knows nothin' abou' – about ANYTHING?"

Journey snickered at Harry's indignant look. "I know _some_ things," he said trying to show he wasn't an idiot. "I can, you know, do maths and stuff."

Hagrid waved his hand in dismissal and said, "About _our_ world, I mean. _Your _world._ My_ world. _Yer parents' world_."

Now Journey was honestly confused. She _knew_ there would be people like them, but a whole other world? It seemed too fantastical to be true. Questions started swirling around in her head, but before she could form any of them into words Harry asked a question of his own. "What world?"

Hagrid's face went from angry to furious. Journey thought he was going to explode as he boomed, "DURSLEY!"

Uncle Vernon looked very pale as he whispered something that Journey couldn't make out. Hagrid looked wildly from Harry to Journey.

"But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said desperately, "I mean, they're _famous_. _You're_ famous Harry."

Harry looked thunderstruck and Journey knew she wasn't much better. "What?" Harry asked feebly. "My – my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"

Journey felt a small twinge of pride that Harry didn't immediately latch onto his own fame. She didn't know what she would do if he grew a big head and ended up acting like Dudley, lording it over everyone.

Hagrid struggled to find the right words. "Yeh don' know … yeh don' know …" He ran his fingers through his hair while looking at the twins with a bewildered look on his face.

When he finally was able to speak, Hagrid said, "Yeh don' know what yeh _are_?"

Uncle Vernon somehow managed to find the stupidity to try and stop Hagrid from telling just _what_ Harry and Journey were. Hagrid brushed him off like he was a fly and finally told them what they were: wizards. Well, Harry was a wizard. Journey was a witch since she was a girl.

When Hagrid told them indirectly that their mum and dad were great wizards, Journey felt something stir within her. She was going to make her parents proud by being the best witch she could possibly be, starting by finally reading the all-important Hogwarts letter.

Journey took her letter that Hagrid pulled out from another one of his pockets and tore it open. It read:

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**_

_**Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

_**Dear Mr Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**_

_**Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.**_

_**Yours Sincerely,**_

_**Minerva McGonagall**_

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

Journey immediately started asking questions. "Where is Hogwarts? How did they address the letters to know what room we were in? What's an Order of Merlin? Or a Mugwump? How many wizards are there if there's an International Confederation of them? Does that mean there is a wizarding government or something? How did Harry and I end up with a place at Hogwarts if we never knew about it? Where can we get all of our stuff? What does it mean, they await my owl?"

Harry had asked the last question at the same time as Journey and Hagrid looked stunned. He floundered for a minute before he suddenly smacked his and to his forehead with enough force to knock over a sign post. "Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," he said as he reached into his pockets again. He pulled out a real, live owl, a long quill and a roll of parchment. He wrote a quick note before handing it to the owl, who clamped it in its beak, walked over to the door and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he walked back over to the couch as if this were a normal, everyday occurance.

Harry and Journey both gaped at each other before looking back at Hagrid, who tried to speak but was again cut off by Uncle Vernon, who said that he would not let them go to Hogwarts. The following argument was interesting. Journey learned what 'Muggles' were – non-magic folk – and that the Dursleys had indeed known that they were magical the entire time. Journey heard the jealousy in Aunt Petunia's voice as she spoke viciously about her sister before ending her little tirade about how all her _abnormalness_ got her blown up in the end.

Hagrid was furious when Harry told her that she had always told them that their parents had died in a car crash. They had always known differently since Harry could remember the night of their parents' deaths in his dreams, but this was the first time anyone had actually _told_ them about what had happened. He yelled at the Dursleys, making them cower back into their corner, but when Harry asked what happened, he became very anxious. After giving several words of encouragement, Hagird finally caved.

Hagrid told them everything. He told them about the wizard who went as bad as you could go, then worse than that: Voldemort. He spoke with a distant look in his eyes as he told them about how he was taking over and the fear that had filled everyone at that time, not knowing who you could trust. He told them about how everyone who stood up to him, besides Dumbledore, died or mysteriously vanished. He told them about how their parents were good wizards, some of the best he ever knew, head boy and girl even (whatever that was). He spoke tearfully about how Voldemort went after them, and then tried to kill Harry. He told them about Harry's scar, which they now knew was a cursed scar, and about how he was famous since he didn`t die when Voldemort tried to kill him. No one had ever survived when Voldemort had set their sights on them, many of the greatest witches and wizards had been killed by him, but somehow Harry survived. This made Harry rather famous in the wizarding world and he was given the title of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' which Journey thought was rather unoriginal but didn't comment.

Harry looked to be in deep thought after Hagrid had finished talking. Suddenly, Journey saw a flash of something. She saw in her mind's eye a blinding flash of green light, and a high, cold, cruel laugh that made her shiver.

Hagrid watched them sadly and said, "Took yeh both from yer ruined house I did, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot …"

Something about that statement struck Journey as being odd. She didn't even pay attention to Uncle Vernon who had started speaking again. _'Isn't Dumbledore the headmaster of Hogwarts? … then why is he the one to decide where Harry and I were supposed to live? I would've thought that … that we would have had … godparents or mum and dad's … will or … something …'_

She only began to pay attention again when Harry asked what happened to Voldemort, or _You-Know-Who_. When Hagrid told them how he thought Voldemort was still out there, weak but alive, Journey felt something unlike anything she had ever felt. She _knew_ Hagrid was right, but that was only the start. A deep, earthshaking feeling had latched onto her, filling her with dread. She couldn't determine what it meant exactly, but she knew that it had to do with Voldemort not being dead, which was definitely not good. She resolved to learn as much as she could so that when Voldemort came back, she would be ready and would protect Harry.

She was so busy thinking about her feeling and her new resolve to protect her brother that Journey didn't even realize that Uncle Vernon was talking again. She did notice when Hagrid started to argue back since his voice was so loud it startled her. He even answered one of her questions when he told Uncle Vernon that their name had been down ever since they were born. She watched as Uncle Vernon finally pushed Hagrid too far by insulting Albus Dumbledore and Journey's respect for Hagrid jumped up when he shot a violet-coloured light at Dudley out of his umbrella because of it.

If Journey's respect for Hagrid went up because of the light, it skyrocketed when she saw the result of it. Dudley now had a curly pig's tail sticking out from a hole in his trousers. The Dursleys ran out of the room in fear and finally left them alone.

Journey looked at Hagrid in awe. _'If magic can do stuff like that,'_ she thought, _'then I can't wait to go to Hogwarts … there must be a million ways to prank people there!'_

She was too giddy at the thought of better pranks to really listen to the rest of the conversation. She heard a little bit about how Hagrid wasn't supposed to do magic since he was expelled and how he avoided Harry's question when he asked why he was expelled by making them go to bed but she didn't actively participate in the conversation.

Journey fell asleep quickly after Hagrid lent her and Harry is coat to sleep on and dreamt about all the possibilities magic could offer them.

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

Journey didn't realize how tired she was until she was being shaken awake by Harry, who told her she had slept through an owl coming in and pecking him till he _paid_ it with little bronze coins called _Knuts _for delivering a wizarding _newspaper_.

Journey smiled at Harry's enthusiasm, which was starting to rub off onto her. Today they were going to get their stuff for Hogwarts! Her enthusiasm dimmed a little when Harry brought it to their attention that they didn't have any money and Uncle Vernon wouldn't pay for them, but Hagrid assured them that their parents left them lots of money in the wizarding bank, Gringotts, which was run by _goblins_. When they asked about it, Hagrid told the twins about how Gringotts was the safest place in the world for stuff you wanted to keep safe (besides maybe Hogwarts) and that he too had business there.

Journey thought it was kind of strange that Dumbledore would be the one sending Hagrid to come and get them. Surely there would be a government of some sort that would be in charge making sure they were properly introduced to the wizarding world. _'Maybe since most of this is school related business it is his responsibility,'_ Journey thought, _'after all he his Sumpreme Mugwump so maybe he has a place in the government as well.'_ She was still slightly uneasy with some man she had never met having so much control over their life – placing them with the Dursleys, not checking up on them for ten years to see if they were being treated alright, then just in time for school fetching them again – but she didn't say anything.

The twins followed Hagrid out of the hut, where it was now quite nice outside. Journey gaped at Hagrid for a full minute when he told them he _flew_ here. For one crazy minute Journey imagined Hagrid on a flying carpet like in a movie she had once seen battling his way through the storm, before she disregarded it as being ridiculous.

They took the boat back to the island with Hagrid using a bit more magic to speed things along. Journey gleefully thought about how the Dursleys were now stuck on the island, with Dudley's pigtail, until someone realized they were there and went and got them.

As they sailed across, Hagrid told them more about Gringotts. Harry and Journey sat in awe at the thought of there being real live dragons miles under the Underground guarding some of the vaults. They learnt there was a Ministry of Magic whose main job was to stop Muggles from finding out about magic, but that it always messed things up since the Minister named Cornelius Fudge was an idiot. Journey agreed with Hagrid when she said that wizards should be left alone, but her reasoning was that people might try and attack wizards out of fear rather than wanting magical solutions to their problems.

After getting off the boat, they walked through the small town to the station. Journey thought it was amusing to see everyone stare at Hagrid when he pointed at ordinary things like parking meters and loudly exclaiming how odd Muggles were to dream up stuff like that. When they finally got to the station, he told them about how he always wanted a dragon since he was a little kid and now that she knew about them, Journey agreed with him.

Taking the train with Hagrid was interesting. Harry had to help with 'Muggle money' and he took up two seats on the train as he sat there, knitting what Harry told her must be a canary-yellow circus tent. As they were on the train, Harry and Journey pulled out their letters and read the second page that was in them:

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**_

_**Uniform**_

_**First year students will require:**_

_**Three sets of plain work robes (black)**_

_**One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**_

_**One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**_

_**One winter clock (black, silver fastenings)**_

_**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**_

_**Set Books**_

_**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**_

_**The Standard Books of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**_

_**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**_

_**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**_

_**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch**_

_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**_

_**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**_

_**Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**_

_**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**_

_**Other Equipment**_

_**1 want**_

_**1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)**_

_**1 set glass or crystal phials**_

_**1 telescope**_

_**1 set brass scales**_

_**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**_

_**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**_

Harry and Journey both wondered if they could really buy all of these wizarding materials in _London_ and Hagrid told them that you could, if you know where to go.

Hagrid led them through London since neither Harry nor Journey had ever been there before. He parted the crowd easily and got a lot of looks from people. The twins followed behind Hagrid trying to keep up with his long stride, wondering where they were supposed to buy wands and cauldrons among music stores and cinemas.

Journey felt a strange feeling and looked up to see the Leaky Cauldron just before Hagrid pointed it out to them. The famous pub was rather grubby looking, but Journey didn't judge since she knew that more often than not she and Harry looked rather grubby looking. Journey _knew_ they were the only ones on this street able to see the pub, and as she watched people walk by it without even glancing at it, she figured that you must have magic to see it.

Hagrid steered them inside, and Journey found that the inside was just as grubby looking as the outside, if not even more so. Everyone including the bald barman waved at Hagrid when he walked in.

"The usual, Hagrid?" asked the barman as he reached for a glass.

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," Hagrid said as he clapped Harry and Journey on the shoulders with enough force to make their knees buckle.

The barman stared at Harry, "Good Lord, is this – can it be – ?"

The Leaky Cauldron suddenly went completely still and silent.

"Bless my soul," the old barman whispered, "it's Harry Potter … what and honour."

The barman ran out from behind the bar and hurried over to Harry and shook his hand, welcoming him back. Journey assumed he was welcoming them back to the wizarding world since she didn't remember ever entering the pub before.

The next twenty minutes were pure chaos. Tom's approach seemed to break all of the other witches and wizards out of their stupor. Everyone got out of their chairs and rushed over to the trio, trying to be the first person to shake Harry's hand. Harry was pushed from person to person while Journey was pushed aside, literally. Hagrid just stood their beaming the whole time as if this was perfectly normal.

Journey watched as everyone formed a line to shake Harry's hand. _'This is ridiculous,'_ she thought, _'he's been 'back' for not even a day and they've swamped him with no warning … can't they see he is bothered by this?'_ And it was true. Harry just stood there with a bewildered expression on his face, not knowing what to do other than stand there and shake everyone's hand. One man got so excited when Harry told him that he'd seen him before that he dropped his hat in either shock or excitement, Journey wasn't really sure.

Finally, they came across a rather strange man, who Journey decided immediately that she didn't like. He was younger than everyone else, wore a purple turban and was constantly twitching. He stuttered as tried to talk to Harry, but something was off about it. Journey had met someone who stuttered before, and he only stuttered over difficult words and at the beginning of sentence. _'Maybe there are different types of speech problems,'_ she thought.

When she found out that he would be her professor, of Defense Against the Dark Arts even, she nearly tripped over thin air. The man was afraid of his own shadow, and yet he was supposed to teach them how to defend themselves? _'Guess that's one subject I'll be learning independently,'_ Journey thought somewhat bitterly. It bothered her that anyone, especially someone as 'great' as Albus Dumbledore, would hire someone who was afraid of his own subject to teach children.

After ten more minutes of Harry shaking everyone's hand, Hagrid finally said over the excited babble, "Must get on – lots ter buy. Harry, Journey, let's go."

Hagrid led them through the bar and into a small, walled courtyard. It was quite unremarkable and only had a dustbin and a few weeds poking out through the stones. Hagrid talked while he looked for his umbrella about how he told them Harry was famous. He also told them about how Professor Quirrell, the man with the turban, was always nervous and stuttering and that he was not only scared of his own subject, but he was scared of his students too.

While her mind was swirling with questions about the wizarding world, she still thought that man was absolutely ridiculous. Finally, Hagrid found his umbrella and tapped one of the bricks in the wall three times. Journey watched, amazed, as the brick wriggled and a small hole appeared in the middle. The hole grew wider and taller until it turned into an archway that was even tall enough for Hagrid walk through comfortable.

"Welcome," Hagrid said as he grinned at their shocked faces, "to Diagon Alley."

Journey was floored. Diagon Alley was better than anything she could have ever imagined. The cobble-stone street was lined with an array of shops on either side and went on till it turned out of sight. Journey didn't even turn to watch the archway disappear behind them she was so amazed by everything. There was a shop that sold different types of cauldrons, an Apothecary (whatever that was), and even a shop that sold nothing but owls. There was a store that was crowded by a bunch of kids their age, which apparently held _brooms_ of all things.

Finally they reached Gringotts. It was a snowy-white colour which was bigger than the other shops by several stories at least. Standing on either side of the large, bronze doors wearing a scarlet and gold uniform, was what Journey suspected to be a goblin. Hagrid confirmed her suspicions as they walked up the stone steps, allowing Journey to get a closer look at the one on the left. He was shorter than both Harry and Journey by about a head, which was saying a lot since they were both on the smaller side of average for their age. The goblin had long fingers and feet, a pointed beard and a clever-looking face that was currently sneering at her look. He bowed to them as they walked inside. Partly because she didn't want to appear rude to spear-weilding goblins and also just for kicks, Journey bowed back. She hoped to get a reaction out of them and was not disappointed.

Both of the goblins looked thunderstruck. They stared at Journey, then at each other, back at Journey, then again at each other without being able to do more than gap like a fish showing their rather pointed teeth. They spoke to each other in what Journey assumed was their own language, one that sounded very harsh and had a lot of hand gestures, before the goblin Journey bowed to ran inside the bank leaving the other one standing guard alone.

Journey realized that Hagrid and Harry had gone on without her, and ran through the doors to catch up to them. There was a second pair of doors which were silver this time, but Journey didn't stop to read the inscription on them since she didn't want to get left behind. Another pair of goblins who looked slightly disgruntled bowed at her as she passed through these doors but this time Journey didn't bow back since she wasn't sure if it would result in the same reaction as before, nor did she have the time to find out.

After she passed through the doors, she easily spotted Hagrid's giant form among the rows of goblins all in high stools behind several counters. She looked at all the goblins curiously as she walked briskly to Hagrid. There were goblins writing with long quills into books, other were weighing coins in brass scales and still others were examining precious stones through special eyepieces. There even a few goblins leading people out of the endless amounts of doors on either side of the hall.

Journey finally caught up to Hagrid just as he reached a lone goblin who not doing anything and said cheerfully, "Good morning! Mr. Harry Potter and Miss Journey Potter would like ter take some money outta their safe."

The goblin sneered at Hagrid and said, "You have their key, I presume?"

To Journey's amusement and the goblin's annoyance, Hagrid began to empty all of his pockets onto the goblin's desk in his search for the twins' vault key. The goblins around their station ignored them since they were too busy weighing precious stones, or were running around frantically.

Finally, Hagrid pulled out a small golden key which the goblin inspected closely. After confirming that it was indeed the correct key, the goblin was about to call another goblin when Hagrid spoke again.

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," he said with his chest thrown out in pride. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin carefully examined the letter while Journey thought, '_they must get confused with all their You-Know-Whats and Whos … you'd think they'd be a bit more creative …'_

A few moments later, the goblin called another goblin by the name of Griphook to escort them down to both of the vaults. While they were walking Harry asked Hagrid what was in vault seven hundred and thirteen but Hagrid refused to tell him saying it was 'Hogwarts business'.

They entered one of the numerous doors around the hall and Journey was surprised to see a stone passageway that was lit with torches and sloped downwards towards to what looked like small train tracks. Journey watched, amazed, as Griphook _whistled_ for a cart that quickly came towards them. Everyone climbed in, even Hagrid though it was a struggle, and they sped off with a jolt.

The cart ride was amazing. Journey had never been on a rollercoaster, but she imagined it would be just like this. They almost flew through numerous twisting and twirling passages. They would turn so sharply that it almost seemed like they would hit the wall, yet it seemed like the cart knew where it was going since Griphook was not directing it. Journey was tempted to throw her hands up like she had heard people do on rollercoasters, but a sight of what looked like dragon fire quelled her urge to do so.

They progressed deeper and deeper into the earth. Harry had asked what the difference between stalagmites and stalactites was, but Hagrid was looking rather green and told Harry not to ask any questions since he might be sick.

Eventually, the cart came to a stop. Hagrid lent against a wall while Griphook took the key and unlocked a large door. Green smoke billowed out of the door and Harry and Journey both gasped when they finally saw what was behind it.

Inside was more money than Journey had ever seen in her whole life. There were three different types of coins in piles and mounds all around the vault, and Journey wondered what they were even worth.

Hagrid smiled when he saw their reaction. "Normally each child of the family gets their own trust vault," he said, "but yer parents didn' think it was really needed so they just made one. Only thing is that yeh have to share otherwise it will get split."

Journey didn't mind that she'd have to share since she doubted that she would ever be able to spend this much money. She felt a twinge of anger when she thought of how the Dursleys would try to take it if they ever knew about it before she thought of something Hagrid said.

"Hagrid, what do you mean by 'trust vault'?" she asked.

Hagrid looked slightly uneasy when she asked, which struck Journey as slightly suspicious. She noticed his fidgeting hands and knew he was searching for an answer besides the one he knew.

"Well you see … ah," he tried to say something but couldn't. He started muttering to himself thinking she couldn't hear him, "I don't see why they aren't supposed teh know … they should know since it's theirs … bugger …" He turned back to Journey and said, "A trust vault is a something a parent sets up for their kid. It gets money from the main family vault, and is refilled usually every year automatically once the kid turns eleven."

Hagrid explained the money system while he helped the twins put some of their newfound fortune into special bottomless moneybags that Gringotts gave them (for a fee of course). There were twenty-nine Kunts (the bronze coins) to a Sickle (the silver coins), and seventeen Sickles to a Galleon which were the gold coins. Before they left Journey asked Griphook if they could transfer some of this money into muggle money so that they could buy proper clothes. He told her that they could, but that they'd have to do it back in the main part of the bank.

They closed the vault behind them and sped off to vault seven hundred and thirteen. It was a rather normal looking vault except there was no keyhole. Griphook warned them away from the door before he gently stroked the door with his finger making it simply melt away. He gleefully informed them that if anyone else tried that they'd be sucked into the vault and would be trapped there until a goblin came in to check on the vault, which happened once every ten years.

Thinking that whatever was inside the vault had to be pretty valuable, Journey and Harry leaned forward to get a better look. Surprisingly all that was in there was a small, grubby looking package in plain brown paper. Journey knew she shouldn't judge by appearances, but she was still slightly disappointed by how normal it looked.

During the cart ride back to the surface, Journey wondered what could possibly be beneath the wrapping paper…

After finally reaching the surface, Journey quickly thanked Griphook when he directed her to where she could exchange Galleons, much to his shock. Journey waited several minutes with Hagrid and Harry in the small line. Before they knew it, they were at the front and exchanging Galleons into pounds. Journey got about 500 pounds just in case the Dursleys found out and tried to steal it … she didn't want to have _too_ much money.

They were just about to leave Gringotts when several important looking goblins came up to them, blocking there way.

Hagrid looked very confused. "Uh, hello there … can I help you?"

The lead goblin, dressed in purples and golds, ignored and looked straight at Journey. "Miss Journey Potter," he said almost politely, "we would like to have a word with you."

The entire bank, even the goblins, had stopped what they were doing to watch the interaction. Journey felt very nervous and looked up at Hagrid. He looked just as confused but gave her an uneasy smile and nodded at her.

Journey looked back at the goblin and smiled nervously. "Of course, lead the way."

The goblin smiled, a truly scary sight. He turned and walked through a large, decorated door. The goblins that were with the leader gathered around Journey and guided her through the door. After the last goblin had walked through they closed it sharply behind her.

Looking around, Journey saw that they had entered another hallway that was much fancier than the previous one. Everything was still made of marble, but encrusted into the marble was many precious stones, giving it a dazzling effect. Everything that wasn't made of marble was made of either gold or what looked like diamond. Journey guessed that this one hallway was probably worth ten times what was in her vault.

The goblins didn't give her any more time to look around and quickly ushered her to another golden door. Once she had entered, they shut it behind her, leaving her alone with the lead goblin and a goblin in scarlet and gold uniform.

The leader goblin was seated in an ornate gold chair and gestured for her to sit in a slightly less ornate chair. It had a stiff back but was still really comfortable and Journey waited patiently for the goblin to speak.

He did not disappoint. "Earlier today you entered this bank. When you did this, you bowed to a goblin, why?"

He certainly didn't beat around the bush. Journey thought that maybe bowing back wasn't a good idea. _'Maybe it goes against their customs,'_ she thought worriedly, _'what if they need to punish me or something?'_

She decided to play it safe while staying as close to the truth as possible. "Isn't it the polite thing to do? I wasn't sure if we were supposed to bow back or not, so I thought that I should bow back. Also, I have just entered, or rather re-entered, the wizarding world, and I'll admit I was curious to see how a goblin would react to a witch."

Journey was quite pleased with that answer. It was very close to the truth – she didn't know _then_ that nobody ever bowed back – and she had been wondering how they would react, just on more of the terms of having a laugh at their reaction rather than honest curiosity.

The goblin sat back in his chair, folded his hands and stared at her. Journey was extremely nervous under his gaze, her heart began to race slightly and it took all her years of sitting through numerous meetings with the principal to not fidget under his gaze. She looked back calmly even though her insides were quickly turning into mush. If she had _known_ that bowing to a goblin would cause this type of a reaction, she definitely wouldn't have done it.

After what seemed like hours but was really several minutes, the goblin smiled. _'He seems to smile much more than any other goblin I've seen so far,'_ she thought almost desperately thinking about how they leave men to rot for ten years if they enter the wrong vault, _'maybe I will only be left there for the rest of the day? Surely Hagrid will get help?'_

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

Twenty minutes later a stunned Journey walked back into the atrium with a new bottomless bag that had several bottomless pockets for sorting different objects and a new book on _Gobbledegook_. Apparently Ragnock, the head goblin, was quite impressed with her and gave her these items as gifts. His only stipulation was that she had better learn most, if not all, of the book on the goblin language by next summer, or else …

Hagrid and Harry hurried over to her as soon as they saw her and fired off questions. She was about to open her mouth and tell them everything but something stopped her. For some reason she didn't want Hagrid to know. Maybe it was because of the way he acted down at their vault, but for some reason she felt she couldn't trust Hagrid with this information. She fed them a quick half-truth, saying that they just wanted to ask her why she had bowed to the goblin at the doors. Hagrid bought it, he didn't even notice her new bag since it looked so similar to the one that they had already bought, but Harry gave her a look that said 'we'll talk later'.

They decided to go and get their uniform first. Hagrid asked Harry and Journey if they minded going on their own while he stopped for a quick pick-me-up at the Leaky Cauldron. Neither of the twins saw any problem with this since _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_ was only a few shops down from the bank. Hagrid smiled at them before heading down the street and out of sight.

Journey wanted to explore the street now that they didn't have their minder anymore, but Harry didn't want to break Hagrid's trust like that. Knowing that he was right Journey quietly followed him to the robe shop.

Madam Malkin was very kind to them and took them to back of the shop where another boy was standing on a stool being fitted for Hogwarts robes as well. His blonde hair was slicked back and he had a pale, pointed face. Another assistant came to help Journey while Madam Malkin started to pin the robe she had slipped over Harry's head.

Journey's first impression of the boy was that he was a lot like Dudley, just thinner. The resemblance was especially strong when he talked about his father and smuggling in a broom and Journey couldn't resist butting in to his and Harry's conversation.

"Even if you did manage to smuggle it in," she said making him look at her, "you'd never be able to fly. Someone would see you. Your precious broom would be taken away and you'd probably get a month's worth of detentions if not worse, making the whole effort useless."

The boy glared at her and Journey just smiled back knowing she was right. He didn't say anything and just turned back to Harry. She didn't say anything for the rest of the conversation, although she was dearly tempted to say that _she'd_ leave if she ever got into Slytherin with _him_. She wanted to punch him when he insulted Hagrid (who was outside with ice-cream) by calling him a servant and a savage, but she was afraid if she moved her arms too much she would stick pins into herself.

When he started talking about her parents and how they shouldn't let the 'other sort' in, she finally couldn't hold back her comments.

"Well it seems," she said cutting him off just as he was asking another question, "that even though you're from an _old wizarding family_, you have absolutely no manners or any sense of tact. You are quite rude to talk about our parents like that and to insult someone who is obviously our friend. If all wizards are as rude as _you_, I think I prefer Muggles, at least _they_ have manners."

The boy looked very shocked. _'Seems like no one has ever told him that before,'_ she thought with a grin. Harry smirked at her, knowing that many of the Muggles that they'd met didn't have manners either but didn't say anything.

At that moment, Madam Malkin told them that they were both free to finished and could go back up to the front to pay for their robes. Journey also bought herself a pair of emerald-green everyday robes, just in case they ever needed to visit the alley again she would blend in, that had several inches worth of lengthening charms on them so she could grow into them for a few years at most. Harry thought that it was a good idea and bought a pair of navy-blue ones for himself.

They ate their ice-cream with Hagrid while Journey fired off questions about all the things the boy said. They learnt about Quidditch, which turned out to be a very popular wizarding sport and about the Hogwarts houses which Slytherin and Hufflepuff were a part of. Hagrid basically told them that Slytherin was the 'evil' house but Journey argued back saying that if it were truly as evil as he said it was, wouldn't the house have been cut out of Hogwarts? Hagrid took a step back and actually thought about it, but still held to his beliefs with a slight variation, _most_ Slytherins were evil. His reasoning was that Voldemort was from that house, so it must be bad. Journey tried to tell him that she didn't think a _house_ could turn someone evil, but Hagrid quickly told them it was time to get the rest of their supplies.

The first thing they got was their writing supplies. As soon as she saw that the wizarding world still wrote with _quills_ and _parchment_, Journey decided that as soon as they got back into the Muggle world she was going to go to a stationary shop and buying a year's supply of pens, pencils and notebooks. _'I may have to write out all of my assignments with quills,'_ she thought as she eyed a particularly vibrant quill with disdain, _'but until I am used to them I am going to write all my notes in pen.'_

Next they went to go buy their trunks so that they could put all of their shopping into it. Hagrid wanted them to just get a normal trunk but Journey wanted to get a fancy one saying that if they were going to use it for seven years, they might as well buy a nice one. Hagrid was still hesitant so she decided to try something new.

She sighed and looked down sadly. "Okay Hagrid," she said in a small voice, "we'll get a normal trunk. I just –" she sniffled quietly for effect, "I just wanted to buy something nice for myself you know? The Dursleys never bought us anything nice or brand new, and I just wanted to _finally_ be able to get something that was _mine_ and not something that used to be Dudley's or a hand-me-down."

She walked over with her head down to the normal trunks where Harry was gaping at her. She was looking over a black trunk when she heard Hagrid speak behind her.

"Wait, Journey," he said. He seemed to be struggling with himself. "I didn't know them Dursleys were like tha'. They're rotten aren't they?"

Journey nodded sadly, "Dudley got thirty-seven presents this year and he complained about it. Last year for our birthday Harry got a coat hanger and I got a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks."

Hagrid's face didn't look like it knew whether to be sorrowful or filled with anger. In the end he just said in a harsh voice, "Those Dursleys," before his expression turned sad. He smiled sadly to Journey and said, "Journey, you pick out whatever trunk you want."

Journey beamed at him. She felt a little bad for manipulating him like this, but all of the stuff she said was true and no one got hurt from it. She ran over to Hagrid and gave him a huge hug even though her arms could barely fit around his waist. "Thank you Hagrid!" she almost squealed excitedly as he patted her back.

Journey didn't get the most expensive trunk in the store, but she was sure she was close. Her trunk had five compartments, each that would opened by tapping the trunk with her wand and saying that compartment's password. The first compartment was just a normal compartment that had an expanded inside so she could fit more things than she should be able to. The second compartment would be for her books. She could enter this compartment from the small ladder that was on the one side, or she could say the name of the book or the subject and tap the small red rune that was on an indented board on the other half, and the books would come out of the small slot that was above the rune that was similar to the book return at a library. To enter books into the trunk she just had to slide them through that slot. The books would sort themselves based on subject, then alphabetically by either author or title which she could change by tapping a blue rune that was beneath the red rune.

The third compartment was similar to the library-like compartment except it would be used to store potions ingredients. It kept all the ingredients fresh by keeping them in a stasis and could also be used to keep plants fresh if she so desired. It would sort everything alphabetically unless she desired otherwise.

The fourth compartment was probably the most useful to Harry and Journey. It opened up to a bottomless pantry, fridge and freezer charmed to keep the food constantly fresh. When she tapped the side with her wand, a cabinet would open up from the lid with plates, bowls and different utensils. To be perfectly honest that compartment was the reason she bought the trunk since she could stock it up with food for when they were at the Dursleys.

The fifth and final compartment was a simple closet to keep her clothes from getting wrinkled. There as an ironing charm on the compartment that would activate whenever she hung something up so she never needed to worry about wrinkles ever again. Aunt Petunia would be so delighted.

Harry got a similar trunk except he didn't bother with the last two compartments. The shopkeeper said that if they ever so desired, they could come back and they could add more compartments or change the ones she had, but there could never be more than seven compartments since seven was a special number. Both of their trunks were shrunk by the shopkeeper, who told them that their trunks were also charmed to be able to shrink and resize at the tap of a wand on the yellow rune on the top. Journey thanked him for his help and walked out of the shop sixty galleons lighter.

Next they went to the bookshop called Flourish and Blotts. When they entered, Journey thought she died and went to heaven. There were books of all shapes and sizes, some with recognizable writing on them and some with strange symbols. Journey wanted to buy more than the required books on the school list, but wasn't sure if Hagrid would let her so when he was talking to Harry about the school books, she slunk off to the clerk at the desk.

He was fairly young, not much older than her, with dirty blonde hair and had a kind smile that lit up his gray eyes. "What can I help you with?" he asked pleasantly.

"I was wondering if there was a way I could carry a lot of books while I browse," she said with a faint blush on her cheeks. No one besides Hagrid or Harry had ever been that kind to her, even the man in the trunk shop was more business-like than kind.

The clerk nodded and reached beneath the counter. He pulled out an ordinary blue bag that said 'F & B' on it and handed it to her. "This bag is a special Flourish and Blotts bag," he said, "just place as many books as you want in it and it will never fill up or get heavier. When you're done come back here and I can ring you up without even taking the books out of the bag. If you buy more than twenty books the bag is free of charge but if you buy less it will cost a couple galleons."

Journey beamed, this was perfect. She said a quick thank you before rushing to the closest shelf, which was on transfiguration. She bought _Transfiguration: It's All About Visualization_, _Cool Tricks For Transfiguration Beginners_, _Pranks Involving Transfiguration_, _The Theory of Animagi_, and after much deliberation she finally decided to get _Transfiguration in Dueling_. The rest of the books looked much too advanced for her so she didn't pick out any more.

The next section she went to was charms where she bought _Charming Pranks_, _Cooking and Cleaning: Household Charms,_ _Enchanting for Beginners_ and _Tricky Spells That Not Many People Know but Wish They Did _just for the fun of it.

Potions was next. In this section she bought, _An Idiot's Guide to Potions_, _Chopping and Cutting: What's the Difference and Why is it Important_, _A Complete Compilation of Potions Ingredients and their Properties_, _Fun Potion Pranks_, and finally _Poisons and Antidotes_.

Seeing that Hagrid was starting to look for her, she quickly ran over to the Defense Against the Dark Arts sections where she grabbed books at random. She ended up getting _Cruses and Counter Curses_, _Dueling For Dummies_, _Shielding: Protect Yourself_, _How to Counter Dark Curses_, _Jinxes and Hexes_, and _The Best Defense is a Good Offense: A Book on Offensive Spells_.

On her way back to Hagrid she picked up several books along the way. She ended up getting _So You're A Wizard: A Muggleborn's Guide to the Wizarding World_, _An Introduction to Runes_, _Is It Just Math or is it Arithmancy, Dangerous Magical Beasts, Wizarding _Law, and _Modern Magical History_.

Hagrid looked frantic when she got back and she felt a little guilty. He asked her where she'd been and told him that she wanted to pick up a few extra books so she wouldn't be so behind, holding up _Modern Magical History_ in her hand to probe her point. Hagrid simply nodded and put all her school in her Flourish and Blotts bag. The clerk tapped her bag with his wand before tapping a special ledger. He smiled a bit when he saw how many books she got, 25 plus her school books, but thankfully didn't say anything besides the price. He also handed her an owl-ordering catalogue free of charge (it usually costed a couple Sickles) with a wink when Hagrid wasn't looking.

Next, Harry and Journey bought their dragon hide gloves, a collapsible brass telescope each and a nice set of scales for weighing potions ingredients. Harry wanted to buy a solid gold cauldron, but Hagrid wouldn't let him. Journey bought and extra one just in case anything happened to hers, and bought a set of crystal vials along with her glass set. After that they headed to the Apothecary for their potions ingredients. It didn't smell very nice (a mixture of bad eggs and rotten cabbage) but it was quite fascinating so Journey put the smell out of her mind. There were herbs in packages and jars, powders, dried roots of various plants, fangs and claws were strung from the ceiling and many slimy in barrels that Journey wasn't sure she wanted to know the name of. While Hagrid asked for a standard potions ingredients set for the twins, Journey went to another sales clerk and bought an owl-order catalogue for 4 Sickles.

After leaving the Apothecary there was only one thing left on their mandatory list, a wand, but Hagrid wanted to get them a birthday present.

"Tell yeh what," he said, "I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at –"

"Can I get a cat?" Journey asked eagerly. She'd always wanted a cat ever since she was little and now she actually had a chance to get one.

Hagrid looked unsure, "well I dunno … I don' really like cats, they make me sneeze."

Journey gave him the best puppy dog eyed expression she'd ever given, and he laughed at her.

"Alrigh, alrigh," he said with a chuckle, "just don' give me those eyes. Harry I'll get yeh and owl so that you'll be able to send yer post. Dead usefull owls are."

Ten minutes later they were walking out of the Magical Menagerie with Journey's new kitten which looked almost like a small fox. Her fur was mostly a reddish colour besides the area around her face (which was slightly pointed like a fox's as well), on her belly and the tip of her tail which were white, and her paws and ears which were all black. Journey named her Aurora because of her bright, light-yellow eyes that reminded her of a picture she had seen of the Northern Lights. The shopkeeper couldn't explain her colouring but said she seemed smarter than the average cat, or even kneazle, and one day had just shown up. Before Journey came along, she wouldn't let anyone buy her and would hiss whenever anyone got too close. They also bought her a magical cat carrier which was larger on the inside than outside for the kitten's comfort, along with food and toys for her (she'd sleep on Journey's bed).

Next they were heading to Eeylops Owl Emporium, which was rather dark (Journey guessed it was for the owls' nocturnal nature) and filled with owls. Hagrid let her and Harry look around while he purchased a beautiful snowy owl who had taken a liking to Harry, if you can call flying over to land on Harry's shoulder and pecking anyone who got to close 'taking a liking to'.

While she was looking, Journey was startled to have a raven suddenly fly down onto her shoulder. She had never seen a raven close up before and it was larger than she thought it would be.

"Well aren't you beautiful," she said as she reached up with her other hand to stroke the bird's feathers. And it was true. The feathers that Journey was currently running her hands through were a glossy black and its eyes looked like pieces of onyx. It seemed to understand her praise for it stood up a little straighter and lifter its head up higher.

Looking over Journey saw that Hagrid had finished paying for Harry's owl and was walking outside to where Harry was waiting.

Journey looked at the bird on her shoulder. "Too bad I couldn't take you too," she murmured sadly, "well off you go." She walked over to a free perch and gestured for the raven to hop onto it.

It didn't move. It sat there on Journey's shoulder and didn't seem to be in a hurry to get off. "Come on," she said, "I have to go. I'd love to take you home with me but I'm not allowed to have a cat and a raven."

"GET AWAY FROM THAT BIRD!"

Journey jumped in shock and the raven cawed out as it tried to steady itself. She turned and saw the shop owner rushing over to her with a look of fear on its face. Owls screeched from the sudden disturbance and when he finally reached her, the man stopped short staring at the raven on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked her warily.

Journey was more than a bit confused. "Of course," she said slowly, "why wouldn't I be?"

"That stupid raven!" the man exclaimed in a fluster, "He's attacked everyone that's tried to approach him, and even several random customers! I haven't been able to get rid of him because of it!" The man took a deep breath before he looked hopeful and said, "He seems to like you though."

He looked at her hopefully, and Journey was caught. She didn't want to disappoint the man and she really like this raven, but she didn't want to break school rules before she even got there. The rules said she was allowed to bring an owl OR a cat OR a –

Her train of thought stopped short. _'It doesn't say anything about not bringing a second animal after you've brought one of the first three … and if I don't buy him a cage and let him fly to Hogwarts I won't technically be _bringing_ him will I?'_ A grin began to form on her face almost against her will as she thought about it.

"I'll take him," she said and the shopkeeper looked so relieved that Journey knew she did the right thing, "but I won't need a cage or anything." The shopkeeper didn't even question her he was so happy to get rid of the bird. He gave her a quick rundown about how the raven will always be able to find her after she named it officially making him her property which was part of the magic. She immediately named him Shadow for his colouring, and he cawed to show that he liked the name. The shopkeeper also told her that he will likely be able to get past owl protection wards since he wasn't actually an owl and how to address a letter to someone all she needed to do was write their name on the envelope.

Before leaving the shop she spoke to the raven, "I'm not supposed to have you, so you will always need to stay out of sight. Don't deliver me anything when I am around anyone else. The only person right now that you can allow to see you is my brother, Harry. When I open the door I want you to fly out and meet me at my home when I get there, okay?"

The bird looked at her with an intelligent eye, and Journey _knew_ he understood. Her intuition was a priceless gift when it came to animals, as she had discovered when she was younger. Harry was slightly jealous of her intuition in this regard because with it she almost always _knew_ how to deal with them and whether or not they understood her.

As soon as she opened the door, the raven flew off and was quickly out of sight, making Journey smile. She didn't know _why_ it was important no one knew about Shadow, just that it was. Since her encountering magic (even before she knew it _was_ magic), her feelings had been getting stronger, and she was not about to ignore them.

Hagrid turned when he heard the door opening, but was too slow to see the raven. Journey walked up to him and thanked Hagrid profusely for her gift, as did Harry.

"Don' mention it," Hagrid said gruffly, "I know you've never gotten anything nice from them Dursleys. Jus Ollivanders left now – only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."

Harry and Journey shared a smile. That's what they'd been waiting for all day, a magic wand.

The shop itself wasn't much to look at. The gold letters over the door that read _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC_ were peeling and the windows were all dusty.

A bell tinkled when they opened the door from somewhere in the shop. Journey thought they had just entered a library, but instead of books there were thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly to the ceiling on numerous shelves. Hagrid sat on a small chair, the only piece of furniture in room, to wait.

As they waited, Journey felt the hairs on the back of her neck begin to rise. _'Someone … or some_thing_ is in here …'_ she thought, looking around. The room seemed to tickle her senses, _'magic'_ something in her mind told her, _'there's magic here …'_

She was about to look at Harry to see if he was sensing the same thing, when her senses suddenly flared. She turned on the spot to see an old man with pale eyes about to open his mouth to speak. He seemed rather shocked that he had spotted her.

"Good afternoon," he said softly. Harry jumped from the voice having not seen the man and it seemed that Hagrid had jumped too because there was a crunch and Hagrid quickly moved away from the chair.

For a moment the man just stood there looking at them, making Journey feel slightly awkward, especially when she realized she wasn't staring at them, he was staring at _her_. Staring with at her with his silvery eyes in a way that made Journey feel rather uneasy.

After a few moments, he seemed to break out of his trance. "Forgive me," he said, "I'm not used to having people notice me before I introduce myself."

Journey nodded in acceptance. _'It makes sense,'_ she thought, _'nothing gave away his approach … he made no sounds or anything … he just sort of … appeared … the only reason I knew he was there was because of my intuition.'_

The man turned to Harry and began to speak to him. He told them about their parents wands and Journey eagerly soaked up the nugget of information about them. Mr. Ollivander also told them about the wand that gave Harry his scar, Voldemort's wand. Journey had to smile when they talked about Hagrid's broken wand, which Journey knew without _knowing_ was in his umbrella.

Harry went first to get his wand. A tape measure was set up by Mr. Ollivander to randomly measure Harry, and Journey wasn't sure it was actually supposed to do anything but didn't question it. As he was looking through the boxes for wands, he told them about wands and how no other wand will give you quite as good results as a wand that chooses you.

Eventually, the tape measure stopped measuring and Mr. Ollivander began to give wands for Harry to try. Harry would barely be able to wave it before Mr. Ollivander would snatch it from his hand and give him another one. A small mountain of wands was slowly building beside Harry and Journey was tempted to start trying those wands in case it took her that long to find a wand as well.

Finally, after a virtual fountain red, gold and emerald-green sparks, Harry received his eleven inches, holly and phoenix feather wand that was 'nice and supple'. There was a scary moment when Mr. Ollivander told them that it was the brother wand of Voldemort, but Journey quickly told Harry that that was only because he was just as powerful as him, not as evil. Harry sent her a grateful smile.

Finally, it was Journey's turn to get a wand. She went through the same measuring process that Harry did before she started trying out wands. Pretty soon, her pile was just as big as Harry's had been, and was still growing. Wand after wand she tried, but no wand matched her.

Just as uncertainty started to creep into her (what if a wand didn't match her, would she still be a witch?) Mr. Ollivander paused. He had been so excited to have two tricky customers in one day that Journey almost thought he was purposefully not finding their perfect match.

Mr. Ollivander turned to her before looking at Hagrid. "I think the wand for you is in the back of the shop Miss Potter. Hagrid would you mind if I took her to the back to see it?"

Hagrid looked startled but quickly nodded. Mr. Ollivander beamed and quickly led her along the rows of wands and through a small door tucked almost behind a shelf. The room he led her to was quite amazing if not bizarre. There were feathers and tail hairs everywhere including on the table in the middle of the room, and in jars along the right wall were what Journey assumed was heartstrings. Along the opposite wall were branches of various types of trees. There were shelves along the back wall that held boxes like the ones in the front of the store, and Journey hoped one of those were her wand.

Mr. Ollivander walked over to the wands and began to speak. "Every so often," he began in a strangely quiet voice for having been so excited earlier, "I make a wand that does not seem … complete if I may use that word. In those cases I must take special actions to make sure the wand will function to the best of its abilities. Sometimes I must intertwine another type of wood, other times I must use a dual core – that is having more than one unicorn hair or phoenix feather. I don't keep these wands out in the front because it is so rare for a witch or wizard to need one, but I believe that you may need one. Tell me, how long have you been able to _know_ things?"

Journey was stunned. _'How … how does he know?'_ she thought staring at the wandmaker, who was still examining the boxes. "I-I don't know," she began to stutter in her shock, "I don't know what you mean."

Mr. Ollivander turned and smiled at her, strangely looking more human than before (probably had something to do with the fact that he _finally_ blinked). "Of course you don't," he said turning back to the shelves, "you have not yet discovered your true gifts. You see Journey, ever witch or wizard is born with certain gifts, talents you could say. Some talents are just being proficient in certain areas of magic like transfiguration or potions, while others are truly _gifts_. Many witches and wizards never discover their gifts anymore, simply because they are too lazy. One of my gifts is being able to see exactly what gifts and talents, discovered or not, that a witch or wizard has, which is why I chose to become a wandmaker. I can _see_ which wand will suit a person best, because I can _see_ their talents … and I can _see_ your talents as well Miss Potter."

Journey suddenly felt almost naked before Mr. Ollivander. It sounded as if he could see her very magic, which for some reason that made her feel very exposed. She didn't have time to ask what her gift was when Mr. Ollivander handed her a wand handle first. It was dark brown, almost black and quite different from the other wands she had seen since it had small tiny symbols etched along it in a spiral so small you could barely see them. The handle was a lighter colour and also had symbols etched into it and when Journey looked close enough, she saw that the symbols formed the shape of a dragon's head on both sides of the handle.

Hesitantly, she grabbed the wand from Mr. Ollivander. For a moment nothing happened and Journey was just beginning to feel disappointed before something happened.

There was a small jolt in her hand and Journey felt her magic react. It rushed out to reach the wand and when it did, Journey nearly dropped the wand in surprise. Heat filled her, so hot it was almost scorching before it seemed to be dowsed with ice-cold water. Her hair flittered about her in a slight breeze as rainbow coloured sparks (silver and blue violet being the most prominent) shot out from her wand so thick it almost seemed as if it were liquid and Journey's magic seemed to _sing_.

Journey smiled. _This_ was her wand. It seemed as much a part of her as the rest of her body, and she knew she would likely never find a wand better for her than this one.

"I must say, that was quite a reaction."

Journey looked up, startled, at Mr. Ollivander who was smiling. She had completely forgotten that he was there the moment her magic reacted to her wand.

"That is quite a powerful wand," he told her seriously, "quite powerful. Made of ebony, it contains the blood of a kelpie which is a water dwelling creature that changes its shape as it pleases, along with something that I have never used in any other wand. There was once a creature called the Egyptian Black Dragon, some call it the most powerful dragon in the world. It had the capacity for human speech, was as large as a Roc and could carry off elephants, and some people say that it was able to harness magic to do incredible things such as see the future. No one knows what happened to them, they disappeared in almost the same manner that Atlantis did – one day they were there and the next they weren't – so they were also given the nickname Atlantean Black Dragon.

"The reason I am telling you this is because your wand contains a fang _wrapped_ in a heartstring, the fang and heartstring of two different Black Dragons if my scans were correct. Usually wandmakers only use hearstrings since they are powerful and easy to work with. Parts such as scales, claws or teeth are hard to fit into a wand so they aren't commonly used. However, this fang was connected to the still-bloody heartstring that appeared on my desk many, many years ago. I could not separate them since the magic holding them together was so strong so I used the entire thing to craft this wand. However, I needed to counter the strong fire element that the wand possessed so that it wouldn't burn whenever the user tried to cast magic, so I put in the blood of the kelpie. But since the two elements were so opposite it was so unstable that I needed to carve runes into it using a griffin talon infused with magic to stabilize it.

That wand is very powerful, just like your brother's is. Phoenix feathers are rarely ever used in wands, people just think that they are used often because they are always mentioned. The truth is, phoenix feathers are very rare and powerful … very powerful … and many times they burn the wood of the wand while it is being made. For both of you to have these particular wands … both of you are destined for great things …."

After finishing his speech, Mr. Ollivander began to move to the door. He was almost there when Journey stopped him. "Mr. Ollivander, what are my gifts?"

He smiled mysteriously at her. "Alas Miss Potter," he said jovially as if the entire previous conversation didn't happen, "part of the curse of my gift is that I cannot say what I _see_."

Journey sighed, _'Of course there is never an easy way to anything_._'_

"But," he said slowly and Journey looked back up at him, "there is a shop that will sell you the information needed to research _most_ gifts. It's right beside Knockturn Alley and it's very, _very_ easy to miss. Tell them Ollivander sent you if they ask."

Journey beamed. "Thank you Mr. Ollivander!" She moved to put her wand away when she realized, she didn't have anywhere to put her wand. "Mr. Ollivander, where am I supposed to put my wand if I don't have any pockets?"

He smiled at her. "Most robes have special wand pockets, but some wizards choose to use a wand holster, especially in duelling. You can also get special enchantments on them as well."

'_Perfect,'_ Journey thought. She quickly bought two wand holsters for a person's wrist, one for her and one for Harry's birthday present. They were charmed to turn invisible when they were on and to prevent someone from summoning their wand while it was in their holster. It also had charms on the straps to grow several inches, like the robes they bought at Madam Malkin's, so they would last a good while.

Journey quickly paid for her purchases and stuffed them into her bag before heading back to the main part of the store. After Harry paid for his wand they quickly left the store. Before heading out of Diagon Alley, Journey told them that she left something in one of the stores and that she'd meet them in the Leaky Cauldron before she rushed off.

She saw a sign that pointed towards Knockturn Alley, and quickly headed towards it. Looking down at the alley, it seemed to be a rather dodgy place and Journey was glad she didn't actually have to go _in_ the alley. She looked around for the shop Ollivander was talking about, but none of them seemed to fit. All there was were and eyeglass store, a fancy-looking robe store, a cauldron shop, a tiny shop selling strange and rare magical items, a plant shop–

'_Hold the phone,'_ Journey thought, looking back over the shops, '_that magical items shop wasn't there before…'_ Journey glanced back over them, but she didn't see the magical items shop. But wait! As she looked between the cauldron shop and the plant shop, she saw a slight shimmer. Looking closer she saw a tiny, crooked store with a sign saying 'Strange and Rare Magical Items'. _'No kidding it's hard to miss,'_ Journey thought, _'it's freaking invisible unless you look directly at it and _know_ it's there.'_

Journey entered the store, which currently had no one occupying it and looked around. There were many items around her, some obviously magical like a floating, rotating model of the universe, while others looked completely ordinary. Journey's attention however, was drawn to the books. Many were in languages she couldn't read, but a few like _True Magical Theory: What the Ministry Won't Tell You_, _Animal Totems: Unleash the Real Power of Animagi_, and one titled simply _Wandless Magic_.

Journey had pulled out the book on Magical Theory and had only just dusted it off when a voice suddenly spoke behind her. "What the bloody hell are you doing here you stupid, little girl? Did you get lost?"

Journey nearly dropped the book she was holding she spun around so fast. Standing in a doorway she had not seen was another old man, but could not be any more different from Mr. Ollivander if he tried. His gray hair was slicked back and he wore classy robes that made him look very sophisticated. His brown eyes were narrowed into a glare as he waited for her answer.

Journey did not let herself look intimidated, even though she really was. "Mr. Ollivander sent me," she was proud her voice did not quiver in the slightest, "he told me to ask you about something to do with discovering magical gifts."

The man's eyes widened before they narrowed again. "Of course he did," he said almost dangerously, "do I look like an idiot to you?"

Despite the situation, Journey was dearly tempted to say yes. Many of the very posh people she knew had almost zero intelligence, and he reminded her a lot of them, so yes, he did look like an idiot to her.

Journey crossed her arms. "You can go ask him," she said, "he'll tell you the same thing."

While she waited for the man to try and call her bluff, Journey went back to the bookshelf. She was just about to put away the book she took out when something caught her eye. A tiny book, no bigger than her catalogue, was sitting in the empty slot that her book created. If she were to put her book back, she wouldn't even be able to see the other book. _'Why would anyone want to hide this book?'_ she wondered. She could barely see the title, _Marauder's Guidebook to Hogwarts, Pranks and Animagi_ when the shopkeeper spoke again behind her.

"Let me see your wand," he demanded.

Journey smirked, _'if he knows anything about wands he's about to be in for a shock.'_ She flicked her wrist like Mr. Ollivander had shown her, and caught her wand as it popped out into her left hand. She turned it around in her hand with a small twirl and handed it to the man handle first.

The man took the wand and ran his fingers over it, muttering to himself about time wasters. After about ten seconds he paused, his eyes going wide. He looked at Journey then back at the wand several times before he finally settled for just looking at Journey, who held her head up and looked him straight in the eye. _'That's right,'_ she thought, _'my wand could probably kick your wand's arse … now let me get what I need so I can get out of here, I've had enough with weird old men for one day.'_

Finally, the man spoke. "P-pardon me," he said with only a slight stutter, "I had not realized that you had _this_ particular wand Miss …?"

Journey thought about giving him a fake name just in case he decided to go tell people she had been here, but rationed that if this man had taken such great pains for his shop to _not_ be noticed, then it was highly unlikely he would be going around and boasting that the sister of the Boy-Who-Lived had been there. After a moment's pause she said softly, "Potter … Journey Potter."

The man nodded, not reacting at all to her name, and handed her back her wand. He walked over to her, before going past her to the bookshelf. He grabbed a book from the very top, tapped it with his wand and murmured something. Journey watched, amazed, as the symbols on the book turned into the words '_Magical Gifts and Talents'_. He handed it to her and said, "Eight Galleons."

Journey thought this was rather expensive for a book but didn't complain. Instead of reaching for her moneybag she grabbed the other books that had caught her eye, including the Marauder Guidebook. "I'd like to buy these as well."

The man looked at the books and arched an eyebrow. "Twenty-three Galleons," he said shortly.

Journey quickly paid him, shoved the books into the bag the goblins gave her and ran off. She glanced back over her shoulder when she was halfway down the street, but the only thing that remained was the small ripple in the air where the shop should have been, invisible unless you look directly at it. She caught up with Harry and Hagrid at the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron into Muggle London where they had been waiting for her. She waved off their inquiries about where she had been and simply told them she had left something in the robe shop. Hagrid bought it easily, but she knew that Harry saw right through her lie, he always did.

Harry was rather quiet their entire trip back. He didn't speak about what was troubling him until they had stopped for something to eat, and what he said nearly broke her heart.

"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said quietly, "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrel, Mr. Ollivander … but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol – sorry – I mean, the night my parents died."

Hagrid tried to comfort Harry, but she knew his words weren't enough. As soon as Hagrid had finished speaking Journey got up from her seat, walked over to Harry and threw her arms around him.

"Oh, Harry," she whispered, "You _are_ special. You don't need to do any 'great things' to prove that, or live up to any of their expectations. You're special without any of this celebrity garbage … and when you go to Hogwarts you'll find friends who think the exact same thing."

Journey released him and saw that Harry had tears in his eyes. Deciding that the situation needed a little lightening up Journey put on a mischievous grin and said, "And let's not forget that you're special because you're _my_ brother."

It was just what Harry needed. He cracked a smile as Hagrid let out a booming laugh from behind him, and Journey's grin turned into a true smile, happy that she could soothe her brother's worries.

After they ate, Hagrid gave them their train ticket to get to Hogwarts from King's Cross and a promise that they would send him an owl if the Dursleys were bothering them. They hoped onto the train and waved to Hagrid before they sat down in their seats. Deciding to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight, the twins both rose from their seats and looked out the window, but Hagrid had already vanished.

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

**amethystdreamstar: Holy cow that was a long chapter, 14000 words! Only two people have reviewed about Journey's name and they both said to leave it or that it didn't really matter so for now I will leave it but I will still leave the option open for a few more chapters.**

**Did anyone notice that in the book, it says on Harry's list that he must get '1 wand' twice? It may not show up on the newer copies but mine definitely has it. I was like ? Harry needs two wands?**

**Also, Platform Nine and Three Quarters is isolated from the rest of the station, so how come on the cover of the book you can see another train in the background behind Hogwarts express? I just thought that was kind of weird.**

**Sorry if I made Journey's wand too powerful. I made it so that phoenix feathers were really powerful, but I didn't want to give her another phoenix feather. The dragon was completely made up, and though powerful, was still nowhere near the same league as a phoenix feather wand, so I added the other parts to the wand. Too me, phoenixes are probably the most powerful magical creatures ever even if they hardly ever fight. They live forever and their tears can heal basilisk venom (which is more deadly than any jellyfish which kill more people a year than any other animal and certain types can kill you with their venom in half an hour) so phoenixes must have a lot of magic in them. These extra elements make Journey's wand just as powerful as Harry's or Voldemort's wand, give or take a bit since they are all specialized for different things.**

**The books the Journey bought will not all be read at once. She will read some of them before Hogwarts and some of them during, but she definitely won't finish them all … especially the 'special' books she bought. Most of those won't come into the story until later, I just wanted her to have them now instead of having to go find them later.**

**I would really appreciate a couple more reviews. I don't know if anyone really likes this story since I've only had six reviews and most of them from the same person (who is totally awesome for reviewing almost every chapter). I don't know if you guys like these longer chapters, or if you would rather I write it how the first few were written (around 5-6 thousand words). I would really appreciate it if you guys could take a few seconds out of your day to just tell me what you think :)**

**August 17****th**** 2011**


	6. Chapter 6: Trains and Hats

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Everything that is underlined is taken directly from the book.**

"talking"

'_thought'_

**'**_**written words'**_

**I know I usually leave notes at the end but I decided to put this one at the beginning because it is slightly more important and people are more likely to read it.**

**I kinda ... toasted my labtop by accident. The part where the power supply sort of ... melted? So when I saw that my labtop would not charge anymore I thought 'hey I'll be smart about this and send it to myself' so I did. No problems there. I finished the chapter after adding on about 3000-4000 words and making a bunch of changes and saved before closing word. I then uploaded it to this site the next day and to my surprise IT UPLOADED THE UN-UPDATED CHAPTER! I searched and searched for the finished one but I could not find it meaning that I had to type the whole last section and re-do all of my changes all over again :'(**

**Okay I'm over that. The other bad thing about no labtop means I have to wait to get a new one and in the mean time I have to use our junky, slow, old computer instead.**

**Chapter 6: Trains and Hats**

Journey had great fun the last month with the Dursleys before Hogwarts started. She had given Harry the wand holster when they got home from Diagon Alley as his birthday gift and he'd been delighted, strapping it to his arm immediately showing his appreciation for the gift. The next day, Harry had surprised her by giving her a present as well. He had bought her a couple of books from Flourish and Blotts while she had been off on her own, including _Hogwarts a History_ and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_. Harry had been rather shy when he gave her these, saying it was nowhere near as nice of a present as a wand holster, but Journey quickly shut him up by giving him a hug and saying that they were absolutely _wonderful_.

The rest of the summer was filled with nothing but magic, besides the occasional run-ins with the Dursleys. Other than Dudley who ran out of the room if either Harry or Journey were entered it (Journey took great fun in this by sending Harry into a room to 'flush Dudley out' while waiting just so that he would run into her making him squeal in fright like the animal his tail represented) the rest of the Dursleys acted as if Harry and Journey didn't exist, which was perfectly fine with her since she still had Harry to talk to.

Harry and Journey mostly stayed in their room reading about and practicing magic in the company of Aurora, Shadow and Harry's owl that he named Hedwig from one of his books. Harry had been quite startled when he walked into the room to see a raven sitting on the windowsill (they had left the window open accidentally when they went on the wild adventure across the country) but Journey quickly explained everything to him. She told him how valuable it would be if they needed to send mail without everyone knowing immediately who it was from if they could get the bird to send it in secret (which Journey had no doubt was possible) especially since Harry was a celebrity. Harry grinned at the idea as he stroked Shadow's beautiful black feathers, before doing the same to Hedwig who looked slightly disgruntled at the lack of attention.

Aurora cuddled with Journey while she started making a dent into her new mini-library. She started by reading all of her textbooks, but quickly realized she didn't understand half the things they were talking about so she started reading some of the books she had mentally labelled as 'supplementary material'. As she read them, she made notes in her textbooks (she hoped the professors wouldn't mind) and into the notebooks she had bought the day after she got home from the nearby stationary shop. She had set up one book for each subject (according to colour) and had started making general notes on hints and tips for each subject, like writing the properties of various ingredients often used in first year for potions and the importance of visualization for transfiguration.

Journey would read all morning while Harry alternated between reading and practicing magic, which Journey did in the afternoon. First, they would try a spell with their wands, which usually took a couple tries. Both Harry and Journey noticed that every time they picked up their wands, a small trickle of magic would flow to their wand from their spine, even if they weren't trying to cast a spell. Harry reasoned that that's probably why certain things work with only a tap of the wand, since there was magic in the wand and Journey agreed.

They also noticed that their magic felt different for each spell they attempted. Certain types of spells like charms or transfiguration had similar feels to them but each and every spell was different. They had only been able to get a few spells to work. Journey found she had a much harder time getting her magic to cooperate for charms than any other type of spell while Harry had the same problem with transfiguration. Journey had mused that this was what Mr. Ollivander had meant by each witch or wizard having their own 'talents' (Journey had told Harry everything when they were on the train ride home).

After they had done a spell with a wand, they would try to the spell without the wand. It was extremely difficult. First they had to concentrate to call up their magic with enough power to actually _do_ the spell, and while they got better at it each time, it was still a very slow process. Next they had to shape the magic into the spell they wanted, which was really difficult because that also required a lot of concentration and while they were concentrating on shaping their magic it would start to slip away. Finally, they would have to push the spell out of their body through one of their hands (Journey had entertained the idea of casting a spell out of her head at someone, but didn't know what would happen if too much magic passed her brain so she didn't try it). The twins found that trying to push the spell out of their non-dominant hand was nearly impossible until Harry had the brilliant idea of trying to use their wands with that hand so that more magic would flow through it. It was much more difficult than using their good hand, but they both thought it would be a useful skill to learn in case they ever injured their good hand in a fight.

They also worked on their abilities, which they still didn't know what to call since it didn't really look like a spell they'd seen in their books. Harry had suggested calling it 'Will Magic' since they did mostly everything based off of their magic and will power, and Journey decided that, for now, that would work.

Journey's 'Will Magic' was coming along nicely. By the end of the summer she was able to shape her ball of flames into other shapes and toss them around. She could even make the flames not burn something as she found out when she accidentally overshot her own hand (she was passing back and forth) and hit Harry. She had been so worried and kept thinking _'don't hurt him!' _and miraculously enough, the flames did nothing but cause a pleasant cooling sensation. Strangely enough, when Harry picked up the cube of flames in his hands it had changed from silver and blue-violet flames to gold and green. Neither of them could think of a reason why and the best they could come up with was that Harry's magic touched it, it was 'claiming' it.

Harry's Will Magic was also progressing. His fire abilities were just as good as Journey's and he was able to change half of his head blonde in one go. All Journey could do with that ability so far was change a couple of her strands black, which actually looked kind of cool when she had looked into the mirror before her concentration broke.

The twins both found that the more they practiced magic, especially their abilities, the less they needed to concentrate. Calling forth magic was becoming easier and went from taking over ten minutes to only taking several minute. Shaping was also becoming easier as they were getting a feel for the different types of magic. Journey found that she could shape her magic as she was moving it to her hands, but it was really slow and would not be practical for regular use for a long while.

Harry and Journey both agreed to keep practicing while at Hogwarts, but to keep the ability secret. Every witch and wizard they had seen so far had used a wand for everything, so they didn't want to be singled out for doing something that might not even be normal. Harry agreed simply because it would make him more different than he already was, and he wanted to be as normal as possible.

Harry and Journey had a calendar pinned against the wall counting down the days until they went to Hogwarts. Finally, it was September the first and the twins both got up extra early to make sure everything they had was all packed. Harry had asked Uncle Vernon about getting a ride to the station the night before, and after laughing about the face that their ticket said nine and _three quarters_, he agreed to take them. Harry was worried that they wouldn't be able to find the station, but Journey figured that there would be other people heading to the station besides them and they'd ask them how to find it, which reassured Harry … mostly.

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

They reached King's Cross station at ten thirty. Journey had sent Shadow off that morning to Hogwarts after telling him to only come to her when she was alone. He had looked at her with his onyx-coloured eyes letting Journey know he understood before flying off into the predawn light. The car ride that had followed several hours later had been very amusing for Journey. Dudley had tried to squish himself into the window away from the twins (they were going to the hospital to get Dudley's tail removed after they dropped Harry and Journey off) which didn't really work considering he had already been pressed against the door and Journey who usually scooted towards Harry to avoid touching Dudley, so all it did was give Journey a tiny bit more room.

Uncle Vernon had been suspiciously nice, loading their luggage onto the trolleys and pushing Harry's along, and when they got to platform nine and ten she realized why. After saying nastily that their platform didn't seem to be built yet and to have a nice term, Uncle Vernon gave them a nasty smile and walked away, leaving them alone on the platform.

Journey stopped a passing guard and asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock. The guard looked at her strangely and said that there were none. Journey thanked him and walked away since she knew he wouldn't be able to tell her where the platform was and she was wasting her time. Harry was beginning to panic beside her, saying that they were attracting a lot of attention just standing there with a trunk and an owl (or in her case a kitten), and it was starting to raise her own worries. _'What if there is another way onto the platform for wizards?'_ she thought worriedly, '_or maybe the entrance is underground or outside or …'_

Her thoughts were cut off as she heard a passing group talking about Muggles. _'Bingo,'_ she thought as she grinned at Harry before pushing her trolley to follow the crowd which turned out to be a family with their mother consisting of four boys and girl with flaming red hair, similar to her own but with a bit more orange in it, and one of them had an _owl_.

Knowing these people were heading to Hogwarts, she followed them and listened to their conversation. She thought it was odd that the mother was asking for the platform number, when clearly some of her sons were old enough to have been at Hogwarts for several years, but didn't say anything to Harry about it. Something niggled at the back of her mind, a feeling that hadn't quite developed into a feeling yet, but it was too elusive for her to figure out what it was trying to tell her so she brushed it aside.

She watched as the mother told her one son, Percy, to go first. She observed carefully without blinking as he walked straight at the divide between the two platforms and – vanished.

Journey blinked, unsure if she had seen that right. _'Did he just vanish into the wall?'_ she thought, _'if so … magic is totally awesome!'_

She laughed quietly at the joke the twins pulled on their mother (she _knew_ that 'George' had been lying) and thought that they seemed like the type of people she would be friends with, pranksters. Having people around to help you pull off a prank or to be your alibi would be absolutely wonderful, and Journey really hoped she would be able to find friends like that at Hogwarts.

After the third boy had walked through the wall, Harry spoke up. "Excuse me."

The woman was very friendly and introduced them to her son, who would also be starting Hogwarts. He had the same red hair and freckles as his brothers, was taller than Harry and Journey by a good few inches and had a long nose that had a smudge of dirt on it.

After introducing her son, the woman kindly told them that all they had to do was walk – or run if they're nervous – straight at the barrier between the two platforms.

Harry and Journey both stared at the rather solid-looking barrier. Journey figured that if the barrier worked for the others, it _should_ work for them, but what if it didn't?

She didn't have time to dwell on it any longer when Harry suddenly started walking towards it. Pretty soon he was running and just when it looked like he was going to crash, he vanished. Journey smiled at the spot her brother had just been in, _'never takes time to think things through … just charges headfirst into all new situations … literally in this case.'_

Journey thanked the woman before turning to the platform. As she walked towards it she noticed a funny feeling, a feeling that she was starting to associate to the word 'magic'. Right when she was in front of the barrier she saw that it seemed to shimmer and almost … glow with spells and enchantments.

Seconds later, she was through the barrier and onto another platform where Harry was waiting for her. Next to the platform was a brilliant scarlet steam engine and a sign overhead said _Hogwarts Express_,_ 11 o'clock_. There was an iron archway where the ticket box should have been that told them that they were, indeed, on _Platform Nine and Three Quarters_.

Harry and Journey both shared a wide smile and walked over to the train. Parents and students were milling about the platform while cats streaked around the ground and owls hooted disgruntledly from their cages. People were dragging their trunks to the train so Journey quickly took hers off the cart (she had opted not to shrink it in case Uncle Vernon asked where it was) and started to drag it to the train. Even with the lightening charm it was still sort of heavy and rather awkward to hold so it was much easier to just drag it in one hand and carry Aurora's travelling container in the other.

Harry copied her and soon they were heading down towards the end of the train since the front was already packed full of students waving out the windows at their parents. They passed a round-faced boy who had lost his toad making Journey think about what Hagrid said about toads, and a boy with dreadlocks holding a small box that people were trying to get a look at. Journey turned her head, curious, and almost missed the hairy leg that poked out amid the shrieks of the people around him. Journey wanted to go and see what it was, but knew that it was more important to get onto the train … afterwards she could come back and look.

Harry reached a train door first at the back of the train that looked fairly empty. He put Hedwig inside first and tried to lift the awkward trunk inside of the train. Even with Journey's help they couldn't get the trunk onto the train and Journey was just starting to get frustrated after having dropped the trunk onto her foot … again … when she heard a voice behind her.

"Want a hand?"

Journey whirled around to see one of the redheaded twins. _'George,'_ she thought as she looked at him. She didn't know how she knew, as far as she could tell the twins were completely identical and she couldn't find any distinguishing features, but she _knew_ this was George.

Harry quickly said yes while she was still thinking and the boy called over Fred, proving that this was indeed George. With both of the twins' help they were finally able to get Harry's trunk onto the train and into the overhead racks followed quickly by Journey's trunk. There was a small awkward moment when the twins realized that they were in the presence of _The_ Harry Potter, but thankfully their mother called them at that moment.

Journey was slightly discouraged that they had acted like that. _'Will everyone act like that around him?'_ she thought as she glanced worriedly at Harry while he stared out the window at the families on the platform. She hoped that it was only a small phase and that twins would get over it, they seemed like good people.

Journey sat down beside Harry and watched the family of redheads, wishing she could be a part of something like that but knowing it would never happen. The mother worried over her sons, making it painfully obvious to Journey what it would be like to have a mother that loved you. She couldn't understand why the youngest boy was trying to pull away from his mother simply because she was trying to take the dirt off his nose. She smothered a giggle at twins' antics, especially when they were finishing each other's' sentences about how pompous the older boy, Percy the Prefect, had been all summer. She shook her head as her mother told them to behave and not blow up a toilet or anything. _'Never give pranksters ideas,'_ she thought and sure enough, the twins thanked their mom for the idea.

Journey frowned a little when they started talking about him. She knew he was a celebrity to _honestly_, he was only eleven! She smiled as the mother became stern with them, forbidding them to ask anything about the night their parents died. _'At least someone has some sense around here,'_ she thought.

Just then a whistle sounded making the boys all clamber onto the train and leaving the girl alone with their mother. She smiled sadly as she watched the girl try to run with the train as it started moving until eventually it was moving too fast and she stopped to wave with tears pouring down her face. Journey wished that she had family, other than Harry of course, that could be there for her to see her off but because of Voldemort, that could never happen.

The train turned a corner and the girl and her mother disappeared along with the platform. Excitement bubbled up within Journey as houses began to flash past and a wide smile began to form on her face. Beside her, Harry looked the exact same and Journey knew that they were entering an exciting, brand new world where the Dursleys would not be able to do anything to them. For the next ten months, they were free.

Journey snapped her head around as she heard the door of the compartment slid open revealing the youngest redhead. He looked rather nervous but Harry, being the kind boy that he was, let the boy sit with them when he said everywhere else was full. Journey had to commend the boy's effort for not staring at her brother, he glanced at him once but definitely didn't gawp or stare. Right then and there Journey decided that this boy was alright. She had an inkling of a feeling that even though there would be rough spots, Harry would end up being good friends with this boy, and they would follow each other to the end.

The twins came back and told them they were meeting one of their friends at the center of the train and that he had a tarantula. Ron looked really uneasy at the mention of the spider and mumbled something, but Journey was excited.

"A tarantula?" she asked in an almost breathless voice. "That's what was on the platform! Do you mind if I come and see it with you?"

The twins looked undecided. _'Probably don't want to hang around with a first year,'_ she thought as her excitement dimmed, '_probably isn't _'cool'.'

As they mulled it over Journey decided to have a little fun with the pranksters and quickly slipped her hand into the pocket in her jeans, slipping a shock-buzzer into it. Harry grinned at her – he'd seen her pull this one many times since she bought it cheap with money she had scrounged around for several years ago – but didn't say anything.

She casually held her hand out to the twin closest to her. "I'm Journey, Journey Potter," she said with a charming smile, "I know you probably don't want to hang out with someone in their first year, but I was just wondering if I could _look_ at the spider … then I'll come back to this compartment."

Journey knew she had a way with words – she had to considering all the times she used them to get out of trouble for all the pranks she pulled – and Journey had to hold back a smile when the twins grinned at her.

"I'm Fred," the twin closest to her said as he reached for her hand, "Sure you won't be scared firstie?"

"Positive."

"Gaaahhhh!"

Harry almost fell to the floor he was laughing so hard and Journey allowed a grin to break out onto her face as Fred suddenly screamed in surprise, making his brothers jump. He looked to his hand, then at Journey before he said, "What the bloody hell was that?"

Journey calmly flipped over her hand, showing the buzzer to the twins. "Muggle pranking toy," she said simply, "causes a small shock but no lasting damage."

She had said the magic words. As soon as the word 'prank' left her mouth, the twins looked at her in a new light. You could tell on their faces that she had gone from 'firstie' in their minds, to 'prankster'. She didn't know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing, they could start a prank war on her, a war she would almost definitely lose considering they had more years of experience and could cast many more spells than she could. All she had was a few Muggle tricks.

Fred looked at the buzzer closely. "May I see it?" he asked. Journey nodded and he carefully picked the buzzer out of her hand and started examining it.

As he did this, George started chuckling. "You're good," he said, making Journey feel a spark of pride within her. "No one has been able to prank us since we entered Hogwarts … not that they haven't tried. A lot of people want to prank us for all the pranks we've pulled on them and I think they'll be rather disappointed that they got beat out by someone who isn't even a firstie yet."

Fred held out his hand to his brother, who took it with a laugh. He didn't scream when he felt the buzzer since he knew what was happening, he just laughed louder. "That's quite a shock," he said after he let go. The twins shared a look and Journey thought that they might even be able to communicate to each other without words. Finally they turned and looked at her.

"Well –," started Fred.

"We've decided that –," continued George.

"Even though you're a wee little firstie –"

"You're cool enough –"

"To come with us –"

"To see –"

"The tarantula!" they finished together.

Journey was greatly amused by the way the twins spoke back and forth. _'Clearly,'_ she thought as she saw Harry snap his head back and forth like he was watching a tennis match, _'their bond is extremely strong.'_

"Great!" Journey exclaimed with a smile before turning to Harry not wanting to leave him behind, but he simply waved her off.

"Don't worry about me," Harry said reassuringly, "I'll just hang out with Ron. Spiders aren't really my thing anyways."

Journey smiled gratefully at Harry before she checked on Aurora. When she saw that she was sleeping she decided to just leave her there and followed the twins out of the compartment, shutting the door behind her.

The hallway still had several students milling about looking for friends and compartments. Journey passed two empty compartments and had to laugh at Ron's lie but didn't judge him for it. She wouldn't want to sit alone either. Just before they reached the right compartment Fred turned to her.

"Do you think I can use your buzzer to prank Lee?" he asked with a wicked grin.

Journey's grin matched his as she nodded. Fred turned away from and they walked over to the next compartment and opened the door.

The black boy with dreadlocks was there (Journey assumed he was Lee since he was holding the box), along with three girls. The first girl looked not much older than her, maybe a year and had light brown hair and brown eyes. The other two girls looked slighted old and both had dark skin with black hair and brown eyes. One of the older girls had her hair tied back in a ponytail while the other had hers braided.

The girls had all been bugging Lee to open the box but looked up when the compartment door opened. They smiled at Fred and George and raised an eyebrow when they saw her.

"Kidnapping first years?" the dark-skinned girl with the ponytail asked.

George answered her with a dramatic display of offence. "Us?" he asked in fake shock as he put a hand to his chest, "we would _never_ do such a thing. You wound me, my dear Angelina."

Journey snickered. "Don't listen to a word he says," she said in a stage whisper drawing everyone's attention to her but she didn't hesitate, "they dragged me away from my brother kicking and screaming and only just managed to subdue me by threatening to hex me."

The twins looked mortally offended but didn't get to say anything since everyone had burst out laughing at her remark. The younger girl spoke up next.

"Oh, you poor thing," in a concerned voice (which didn't really sound concerned since she was still giggling), "don't worry we won't let the big, mean twins hex you."

Journey pretended to fall over her feet in gratitude as she made her way over to the girl. "Oh, thank you so much! I was so scared." Journey pretended to sob, making everyone laugh, besides the twins who were still looking slightly bewildered.

The third girl pretended to wipe a tear from her eye before she turned to the twins. "I can see why you like her, she's got the same personality as you two buffoons."

Journey let out a gasp looking mortally offended. "I do _not_," she said. Putting her nose up into the air, Journey pulled off her best impression of Percy the Prefect she could as she said snobbishly, "mine is _much_ better."

Everyone let out loud snorts of laughter. Lee looked at the twins in fake awe, "And she even mocks your brother! Fred, George, she's brilliant! Wherever did you find such a priceless jewel?"

Fred and George let out a little bow before Fred went to clasp Lee's hand. "We were just as surprised to find her as you," Fred began, "it was rather _shocking_ and went like –"

"Gaaahhhhh!"

George looked at his brother barely containing his laughter as Lee dropped his box, "Just like that, actually."

Everyone in the compartment looked rather shocked at first, but when they saw the twins and Journey laughing they realized that it had been a prank and joined in the laughter, even Lee. "What was that?" he asked as he rubbed his hand.

Fred help up his hand to show the buzzer and after Journey took it, gestured for her to take the floor. "It's a Muggle prank toy," she said with a grin, "it causes a small shock to go through the person and while rather startling, doesn't actually hurt them."

"She got Fred with it," George said with a snicker.

Fred pouted but everyone else looked at her in awe. Lee even got off his seat and started bowing repeatedly saying, "We are not worthy!"

Everyone snickered and Fred pushed him back into his seat before he sat down beside him. George sat on Lee's other side leaving Journey one of the two window seats. She took the one on beside George feeling slightly more comfortable with him than any of the girls. Journey didn't know if it was because her only friend had ever been her brother, but she got on easier with guys rather than girls. She found girls could be rather nasty and complicated at times while guys were much more upfront about things.

For a moment no one said anything before George spoke, "Let's see your tarantula."

Everyone murmured their agreement and Lee picked up his box off the floor. Journey noticed that the lid was slightly off, but didn't think anything of it until Lee pulled off the lid, looked inside and said in a slightly strangled voice, "He's gone!"

The reaction was immediate. The girls immediately screamed and jumped up onto their seats. The boys copied them, minus the screaming and started looking around frantically.

Throughout all of this, Journey just sat there with her eyes closed. She wanted to try something. After Hagrid had left them Journey had wondered about how she made the feeling about something being outside their shack change and become clearer. She eventually realized that if she tried hard enough, she could make herself _know_ things. She thought it might be one of the 'gifts' Mr. Ollivander was talking about but she wasn't sure. It didn't always work, and oftentimes the feelings were even harder to figure out than the ones she got at random, but she _knew_ it would be important one day and she had to get better at it.

Feeling that there was no better time to practice, Journey sat there with her eyes closed and started _looking_ for the spider. No one paid her any real notice, they probably thought she was frozen in fear rather than doing anything weird. Journey tried to grasp something inside of her, but it remained elusive.

Finally, Journey felt something. It was so small she nearly missed it, but it was there. It was hard to focus on, especially with all the chaos around her, but Journey persisted. At first she got a general sense, _it's on the train_, but that didn't really help much, they all knew that one. She focused harder, tuning out everyone around her as she bit her lip lightly and furrowed her brow in concentration. Slowly the feeling got stronger, _it's in this compartment_, but it still wasn't enough. The world disappeared around her as she focused on the feeling and finally, it clicked.

Journey's eyes snapped open. Calmly, she stood up and walked over to the middle girl's seat and bent down. Everyone was breathing heavily as they looked at her weirdly. Journey suppressed a smile, _'probably wondering what the hell this little firstie is doing.' _Journey ducked her head down to look under the seat and saw a bag that presumably belonged to the girl. She pushed aside the bag and sure enough, there was the missing tarantula. Self-satisfaction and a little bit of pride built up in her chest, she'd done it!

Carefully, she coaxed the spider out from beneath the seat. She didn't know if her ability to communicate to animals passed to large, hairy arachnids, but apparently it did because not a moment later it was crawling out from underneath the seat and onto her outstretched hand.

The middle girl who had been sitting over the spider let out a small scream at the sight of the spider but everyone else looked at her in awe. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, she walked over to her seat and started absentmindedly petting the hairy spider. For several moments no one spoke before someone, George, finally spoke.

"How'd you do that?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Journey paused, she didn't think that anyone had noticed her acting strangely. Deliberately keeping her voice light she asked, "Do what?"

Everyone stared at her, but it was Fred who spoke next. "That – that _thing_ you did just now, with the spider! How did you stay so calm? I thought you were frozen in fear at first, but now I'm not so sure."

'_So he didn't notice anything important,'_ Journey thought, relieved. She decided to tell him a half-truth rather than a full out lie. "I didn't think it would hurt me. From what I've read tarantulas don't go and seek out people to bite so I figured I was pretty safe if I just kept still."

Angelina spoke next, "How did you know where it was?"

Journey shrugged. "I dunno, just had a feeling I guess," she said with a slightly cryptic smile.

"How did you get him to come out?" Lee asked, "And you're so calm about everything! Even now the spider's just calmly sitting in your hands, not even trying to get away or – or anything!"

Journey decided to be truthful in this case. If these people were to be her friends – and she hoped they would – she didn't want to keep _too_ much from them. "I'm not sure how I did it," she said completely honestly, "I've always had a way with animals. They seem to understand me, I guess."

Everyone looked the spider in her hands which was, indeed, sitting quite calmly as she pet its hairy body. Angelina seemed rather excited at what Journey had just told her.

"That's wicked!" she exclaimed, "Can you understand them?"

Journey let out a small smile. "Kinda, it's not like, words or anything like that. I sort of just get … feelings I guess you could say, of what they are trying to tell me. I have a kitten, named Aurora, and I think she's really magical because with her, it's almost like talking to someone who can understand you."

A couple of the others in the compartment copied Angelina's expression of "wicked" before formal introductions started. Journey learned that they were all third years except Katie, the girl in the middle seat, who was a second year, and that all of them were in Gryffindor. She learnt that Lee commentated Quidditch matches for the school and that the girls were all Chasers for the Gryffindor team minus Katie (although hopefully not for long) and that Fred and George were beaters.

Journey felt very stupid after the introductions when she asked, "What are Chasers and Beaters?"

The entire compartment looked scandalized, before they remembered that she had told them she grew up with Muggles (she hadn't told them her last name yet because she wasn't sure how the others would react to her being related to the Boy-Who-Lived). The entire compartment all started talking at once, trying to explain to her the awesomeness that was also known as Quidditch.

By the end, Journey was amazed. _'Quidditch sounds so amazing,'_ she thought excitedly, _'I can't wait until I can learn how to fly.'_

Katie was just in the middle of explaining that the only reason she wasn't on the team was because first years aren't allowed to try (the school was afraid they would either get injured or would not be able to keep up their workload) when the compartment door slid open.

Standing in the doorway was none other than the boy that Harry and Journey had met at Diagon Alley in the robe shop. He was standing there already in his robes, flanked by to large boys that looked more like bodyguards than friends. He surveyed them all with a critical look on his face and his nose in the air as he said, "I am looking for Harry Potter. He's about this tall –" he gestured to a height that was much taller than Harry, making Journey snort and drawing his attention to her, "–and has black hair. Have any of you seen him."

He was looking directly at Journey as he said this, so Journey decided she should probably answer him. "Yeah," she said slowly, "I've seen him. And while he may have black hair, he's actually about this tall." She brought her hand up to just over her height, making Fred and George snicker and the blonde boy flush pink on his pale cheeks. "I also know," Journey continued, "that he's not too impressed by you. You reminded him of my spoilt-rotten _Muggle_ cousin, who complained this year for only getting thirty-seven presents."

By this time, everyone in the compartment was giggling uncontrollably as the boy turned red, clearly visible because of his pale skin.

"You're the girl from the robe shop," he accused, "you called me rude."

It was everything Journey could do to keep from smirking as everyone began to giggle louder as they tried to stifle their laughter. For her part, Journey just shrugged and said, "Guilty as charged. I stand by what I said too. You haven't changed my impression of you at all. You barged in here without knocking and without introducing yourself or your … companions, which is quite rude."

The boy sniffed and drew himself up to his full height (which wasn't really that impressive since both of his bodyguards were still several inches taller than him) and said in a haughty voice, "I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, a _pure_blood. Who are you with your _Muggle_ cousin to speak to me in such a way?"

Everyone had stopped laughing. Journey didn't even try to draw herself up like Draco Malfoy did as she said, "Journey Potter. So I'd be careful what you say Draco, I can tell my brother anything I wish about you and he'd believe me."

Immediately, Draco changed his tone. "It's Malfoy," he said in an almost friendly tone before he gestured to his bodyguards, "This is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. I apologize for my rudeness. I thought when you said you had a Muggle cousin, you meant you were nothing but a Mud-Muggleborn." He looked around the compartment where everyone stiffened as if he had almost said something awful, "You don't need to sit around riffraff such as _them_, come and join me and my friends in my compartment, where everyone is pureblood instead of bloodtraitors and low, filthy Muggleborns such as –"

SMACK!

Everyone stood there in shock, even Journey as she watch Malfoy drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes from her punch. His two bodyguards stood there in shock, not knowing what to do without their leader giving them orders. Draco looked up at her in shock, blood pouring from his nose which looked suspiciously broken and Journey finally found her voice.

"I think I'm fine right here _Draco_," she said venomously, stressing his name since he specifically told her not to say it. Anger filled her like never before as this boy she barely even knew insulted her new friends and her mother. As anger coursed through her veins she felt her magic begin to stir with it and to her shock some was already residing in her fist. She didn't dwell on it but forced herself to calm down so that she wouldn't do something stupid … well, more stupid than punching this prat in the face. Finally, she calmed down and spoke in a cold voice, "I'd rather not associate with people who insult Muggleborns all day. In case you forgot, my _mother_ was one of these 'filthy' people and I don't like to hear her spoken of in such way. You have no right to come into _our_ compartment and speak of these people like that. If you _ever_ even _think_ of coming near me again, you had better change your attitude. And if I ever see you insulting my mother's memory again … you will not like the consequences, got it?"

Draco stared at her in fear as he scrambled to stand up, even Crabbe and Goyle looked scared. He was about to leave the compartment when Journey grabbed the front of his robes. "_Got it_?" she hissed threateningly.

"Yes," Draco squeaked. Journey let his robes go and he hurried out of the compartment without a second look, slamming the door behind him.

Journey gave a self-satisfied nod and turned around, to see everyone staring at her with strange and unreadable expressions on their faces. Journey was unnerved, _'what if they all think like Draco and think that Muggleborns are scum? What if they actually know him and are friends with him or something?'_ She knew she wasn't thinking rationally, Draco clearly insulted everyone in the compartment, but she was still coming down from her adrenaline rush and was worried she'd done something wrong.

"You threatened –" George started still in a daze.

"Lucius Malfoy's son –" Fred said.

"After punching him –"

"In the face –"

"YOU'RE AMAZING!" the twins shouted together. Apparently even when in a shocked stupor they could still finish each other's sentences.

This seemed to shake everyone out of whatever state they had been in. Fred, George and Lee all started bowing while the girls clapped. She found out after she had sat down that Lucius Malfoy constantly insulted Mr. Weasley (Fred and George's dad) and was a suspected Death Eater (supporter of Voldemort) until he bought his way out. Only Fred and George had personally met the man (when they had gone with their father to see the Ministry) but they had told everyone what he was like and they had all heard stories about him. Apparently, Draco was the carbon copy of his father in looks and personality (according to the twins).

After they had finished talking about the Malfoys they began talking about Quidditch, this time about all the different teams in the league. They had been talking for a good while and were passing buy large fields in the countryside when the compartment door slid open to reveal a smiling little witch carrying a cart full of food. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked politely.

Everyone, including Journey, stood up and headed for the door. Journey was _starving_ and she hoped that they at least had some Skittles (she _loved _Skittles, especially the sour ones) or something decent.

Turns out there weren't any Skittles on the cart. In fact, Journey didn't know what _anything_ on the cart was. The only thing that looked remotely normal was Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and the Liquorice Wands. There were Pumpkin Pasties that looked like really, mini pumpkins, and Chocolate Frogs (she _really_ hoped they weren't real) and many things she had never even seen before. Deciding to splurge a little, she bought a little bit of everything and paid a handful of Sickles for it.

Everyone stopped eating to stare at her as she brought in her arms-full load of candy. _'Maybe I went a little overboard,'_ she thought.

"Bought enough candy, Journ?" Fred asked.

Journey gave a little jolt when she heard the nickname. No one had ever called her that besides Harry when they were alone and it was weird to hear someone else say it.

"I don't know Fred," she said sarcastically to cover up for her silence, "I should probably go back out and get some more, what do you think?"

Fred rolled his at her sarcasm while everyone else sniggered.

"Besides," Journey said as she sat down and dumped the candy onto the seat opposite her, "I wasn't planning on eating all of this. I'm sharing it with you guys. I haven't tried any of this before so I wanted to try a bit of everything."

Everyone perked up at the mention of candy (they'd finished theirs already since they only bought a little bit and Journey had taken so long to get hers). The rest of the ride was spent with lots of jokes and laughs. Everyone was telling Journey all about their Hogwarts exploits while they ate the small mountain of candy. Journey got a real shock when the Chocolate Frog jumped out of his package and made a break for the window, but she quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into her mouth. Thankfully it stopped moving as soon as it entered her mouth. She got the card 'Agrippa' to Lee's envy since he had been looking for that on for ages. They played a guessing game with the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, trying to figure out which flavour they were going to get before they ate it. And do they really mean every flavour. Journey was fortunate to only get good flavours such as strawberry, lemon, chicken, milk and beef stew while others got gross flavours such as lead and salt water.

Time flew by as Journey began asking questions about the wizarding world. Why did the pictures on the chocolate cards move? Were classes hard? Who were the good teachers and who should she watch out for? Question after question rolled off of Journey's tongue, questions that the Gryffindor's were happy to answer. They seemed to have accepted her as a part of their group after pranking the unprankable twins (or at least, one of them) and punching Draco Malfoy in the face. After her questions had, temporarily, been exhausted, they started talking about their families.

When they were almost at Hogwarts the compartment door opened one last time to reveal the round-faced boy that Journey had seen on the platform looking for his toad along with a girl with a lot of bushy brown hair and large front teeth.

"Have any of you seen a toad?" she asked in a bossy voice, "Neville's lost one."

They all shook their heads but only Journey spoke. "You should check the bathrooms," she said in a kind voice speaking directly to Neville. The girl's tone of voice didn't sit too well with Journey, she sounded too much like a mix between Aunt Petunia and some of the girls at her primary school for her to be comfortable. "Toads like dark, damp places, so he probably went to hide in one of them."

The boy gave her a watery smile while the girl huffed. She caught the fact that Journey had overlooked her it seemed. "_I'm_ Hermione Granger. Who are _you_?" she asked bossily.

"Journey Potter," Journey said casually, "nice to meet you."

Immediately, the girl brightened. "Are you really? So that mean's your brother is _the_ Harry Potter. I know all about him. I bought extra books, for background reading of course, and he's in _Modern Magical History_ and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_." She said this all really fast and without taking any breath.

Journey didn't allow herself to be amazed by the girl's ability to spout off a lot information in one breath. Instead, she felt anger begin to creep into her again. "What's his favourite colour?" Journey asked in a deceptively calm voice.

Everyone turned to look at her and Hermione paused halfway through her second speech (Journey counted it as her second because she took a breath between them) about what house she wanted to be in to look at her in blankly. "Pardon?" she asked, confusion lacing her tone.

Journey almost smirked at the girl. "My brother," she spoke slowly, almost in the way you would speak to a young child but not quite, "You said you know all about him. If you know all about him, what's his favourite colour?"

"I-I don't –" Hermione looked confused and seemed to have lost her voice.

"Don't know that one?" Now Journey couldn't hold back her smirk even if she wanted to as she said, "It's green. Let's try another one. What's the name of his owl?"

Hermione could do nothing more than open and close her mouth like a fish while she tried to think of something to say.

"Guess your precious books didn't tell you that one did they? How about his favourite food? Or his least favourite subject in primary school?"

Hermione was trying to say something now, but it seemed to not be coming out. Journey narrowed her eyes. "You should be careful about what you say," Journey warned, "people tend to not like know-it-alls … which is exactly how you're acting. Harry and myself were the only people there that night who survived … besides maybe Voldemort –" everyone flinched but Journey kept talking "– and he's not really in any shape to talk to anyone. I don`t recall ever going to an interview and neither does Harry so how could that information in all those books be correct? My brother may be famous, but he's a human being too. Don't presume to know _anything_ about my brother until you've actually met him and had a conversation with him."

Hermione looked almost scandalized that Journey had insulted books. She had the decency to not say anything about it and to mutter out a small 'sorry' before she fled the compartment.

Everyone in the compartment looked at her strangely. "What?" she asked defensively, "She was going around as if she knew my brother just because she read a couple of books about him that probably weren't even right. And she was acting like the girls in my elementary school who used to bully other girls because they thought they were better than everyone just because they got good grades."

"It's not that," Alicia said in a quiet voice, "I agree with you about how she acted. I think everyone forgets that your brother is just a boy sometimes rather than the hero our parents make him out to be. It's just …. you said You-Know-Who's name!"

Journey grinned, relieved and decided to have a bit of fun with this. "Who's name?" she asked in a clueless voice.

Lee gaped at her. "You know," he said, trying to tell her without saying anything, "_his _name."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." Journey was quite proud of her honestly confused looking expression. It had taken her months to get it perfected.

"You said – you –" Katie couldn't even finish her sentence. Everyone shared a look, how could she _not_ know?

"I said a lot of things guys," Journey said as if she was speaking to someone slow … like Crabbe or Goyle.

"You said Voldemort's name!" Fred and George both half-shouted, before they clamped their hands over their mouths as if they had just uttered a vile word in front of their mother.

Journey finally allowed herself to grin as she said, "Now that wasn't so bad was it?"

The twins, and everyone else, gaped. "You mean," George said slowly, "that you knew what we were talking about the whole time?"

"Yep," Journey said smugly, "I just wanted to see one of you guys say his name. It wasn't so bad was it? Voldemort didn't suddenly appear screaming bloody murder and lightening didn't strike you were you sat. Quite an accomplishment for such a taboo names don't you think?"

Everyone gaped at her smug expression. "Besides," she continued, "it was so amusing to watch you guys struggle to try and tell me I shouldn't say Voldemort's name without actually saying it." Everyone flinched at his name, but it wasn't as bad as before. "And," she said with a mischievous grin, "it's funny to watch people flinch at his name. It's almost like a joke that never gets old."

At that, the twins looked contemplative. Fred spoke first, "she's right you know, George."

"I know Fred."

"We're still alive even though we said his name."

"That's true."

"And Dumbledore says it all the time."

"We're not Dumbledore though."

"I know … but if this little firstie can say V-Vol-VOLDEMORT," he said the name very loudly as if he was forcing himself to say it, "then I think we can too.

"Right, V-VOLDEMORT!"

After the initial shouting of the name, the twins had much less trouble saying Voldemort. They laughed with Journey when the others kept flinching at the name – they weren't reckless enough to actually try it but they didn't stop it. The twins kept on saying the name and with Journey, they even turned it into a bad song to the tune of some Muggle song Journey told them about. They even made up nicknames for Voldemort like Moldyshorts, Goldilocks (vold sounded like gold and the rest was history) and even Moldywart. Journey personally like the name Moldyshorts, and said that if she ever saw him she would call him that just to see what he would do. Everyone had a good laugh because really, how likely was it that Journey would meet Voldemort?

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

When the train finally came to a stop, the sky outside was dark. Journey had gone back to her compartment when the conductor announced that they would be arriving soon to get changed. Harry and Ron were already changed and waited outside the compartment as she quickly donned her robes.

As they waited for the train to come to a complete stop, Harry told her about his trip. Apparently Draco had made to his compartment after getting someone to fix his nose (Ron looked at her in awe while Harry just laughed when Journey told them the story about what happened) and so did the bushy haired girl and Neville. Hermione had given pretty much the same speech that she gave Journey. Apparently she was disregarding what Journey told her about treating her brother normally.

They finally pulled into the station and left their luggage on the train. After making their way through the crowded hallway they got to the door of the train and hopped onto the dark platform. Journey could see a lantern overtop of the heads of the students and connected to that lamp was –

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry, Journey?"

Hagrid's smiling, bearded face shone from the light of the lantern above the sea of students. He called out for the first years to follow him. They followed him – with lots of stumbling since the path was so dark – in virtual silence through a wooded area. Hagrid called out to them that they were about to see Hogwarts and sure enough just around the next corner was –

Hogwarts. It was better than anything Journey could have ever imagined. High up on a mountain was a beautiful castle that they could make out from all of the lit windows. The poor lighting did not hide its many towers as it stood proudly over the lake but that wasn't all.

Journey had never seen so much magic in one place. If the doorway to platform nine and three quarters was glowing, this was absolutely blinding. The very castle itself shone like a beacon and Journey _knew_ that no one, other than maybe Harry since she knew he could sense the magic at Ollivander's as well, could see it. Around the castle in a giant globe-like shape was more magic. It was bright but transparent, and Journey figured that these must be the wards she read about in _Hogwarts A History_.

Journey realized that while she had been staring at the castle, everyone was getting into boats. She quickly climbed into the boat Harry did, and was followed by Ron and Neville leaving Hermione Granger (who had been following Neville) to find another boat.

Hagrid, Journey noticed, was in a boat all to himself as they glided across the lake. Journey stared in awe at the castle until a terrible thought came to her, _'If the magic of the castle is already this bright and I'm so far away, how will I be able to see when I'm _inside _the castle?'_

This thought plagued Journey the rest of the boat ride and the steps up the castle. Looking at Harry, Journey realized that he could see it too by the way he was starting to panic slightly as well. Desperately, she tried to will away her 'magic vision' similar to the way she would try to will fire into her hands. She was about to give up when she passed into the wards but, she was finally able to dim how bright the magic was. She could still see it a little bit, but it didn't hurt her eyes anymore.

"Will it away," she whispered to Harry, who was squinting so badly that Journey was surprised he could even see where he was going away. Hagrid walked up a flight of stone steps and Journey waited with Harry at the bottom as he tried to will away the 'magic vision'. He got it faster than she did, probably because she had been trying to do it while walking. Only a minute after he had shut his eyes Harry opened them, completely, and smiled up her. They caught up to everyone else just as Hagrid knocked on the castle door three times.

Immediately, the doors swung open to reveal a tall witch with black hair wearing emerald-green robes. Journey's first impression of the stern-looking witch was that she was very strict and not someone to cross. Something else niggled the back of Journey's mind as she looked at the witch, Professor McGonagall as Hagrid had just introduced them, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She opened the doors widely for them, allowing the students to get their first glimpse of the inside of Hogwarts. The entrance hall alone was so large that Journey could have picked up the Dursleys house and plopped it in here with room to spare. She couldn't even make out the ceiling it was so high and flaming torches were on the walls around the room and leading up the marble staircase that led to other floors.

As they walked across the floor, Journey could hear the drone of loud numbers of voices coming from behind a large door to the right. Instead of leading them through that door however, Professor McGonagall led them into a small anti-chamber off of the entrance hall. They crowded into the small room. Everyone besides Journey was looking around nervously, even Draco, she noticed, but Journey was too excited to be nervous for two reasons. Firstly, she was about to become an official student of Hogwarts, and secondly, after they were sorted they got to eat!

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said warmly.

Journey listened to the pre-planned speech and was slightly impressed and disappointed. She was impressed because of the way Professor McGonagall could hold a crowd and disappointed mostly because of the house cup. When Professor McGonagall had spoken about it Journey had raised her hand.

McGonagall paused mid-speech to stare at Journey. It took her a moment before she was able to call on her, "Yes, dear?"

"What do we get if we win the house cup?" Journey asked curiously.

Professor McGonagall looked shocked and everyone started murmuring, wondering what she was talking about. "I beg your pardon?"

"You know, like a reward," Journey tried to explain, "at my old school, we had a point system for each class but it was reset monthly. At the end of the month each student would get a prize like some candy, special privileges or a gift certificate to a store if they were older. What do we get if we win the house cup?"

The students all looked up eagerly at the professor, wondering what they would get if they won.

Professor McGonagall on the other hand, looked rather shocked. "That idea has never come up," she said honestly, "I will speak to Professor Dumbledore about it. Normally, house pride is enough to make people strive to achieve getting the most points and winning the cup."

This greatly disappointed Journey, and many of the other students were as well if the disappointed groans were anything to go by. After collecting herself again, Professor McGonagall finished her speech and told them to wait quietly while she went to see if everyone else was ready for them.

She heard Harry ask Ron how they sorted students and snickered at his response.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

Harry looked really worried after Ron said that, especially when Hermione Granger started listing off all the spells she'd learnt over the summer. She tried to reassure him by saying that they wouldn't make the test anything dangerous considering they haven't learnt anything yet, but Harry only looked moderately relieved.

They had been standing there for several minutes and the boredom was just starting to creep in when all of a sudden there was a scream. Journey turned around to look and saw –

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

Ghosts. More than twenty ghosts had just floated right through the back wall! Harry gasped when he saw them. He had never seen anything like it. He looked over to his sister and saw that Journey was just as awed as he was.

'_One thing's for sure,'_ Harry thought as he looked back at the ghosts who seemed to be arguing, _'we're definitely not at the Dursleys anymore.'_

Just then Harry heard a sharp voice behind him saying, "Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Harry turned to see that Professor McGonagall had returned. The ghosts all floated through the opposite wall they came in from – it was rather bizarre to watch – and Professor McGonagall ordered them to form a line.

Harry's nerves returned as he got into line behind Journey and in front of line. His legs seemed to be made of jello and he thought they would give out from underneath him, yet at the same time they felt extremely heavy and it took all of his effort to keep moving towards the double doors that led to the Great Hall.

As if sensing his hesitation, Journey turned around to give him a reassuring smile. Harry tried to smile in return, but he was sure that it looked much more like a grimace than a smile. When the doors swung open he watched as Journey turned back around and looked around to stare at the Great Hall without looking even the slightest bit nervous. _'Wish I could be as calm as her,'_ Harry thought, '_then again, she probably _knows_ what's going to happen so she doesn't need to be nervous.'_

Harry was cut off from his musings when he finally entered the Great Hall. It was one of the most spectacular sights he had ever seen! Thousands of floating candles illuminated four long tables were the entire student body was sitting. There was another table at the top of the hall were all of the teachers were sitting and all of the tables were set with golden plates and goblets. Fires hung by gargoyles were around the hall to give it even more light.

They were led to the front of the hall where Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool down and put a dirty, patched-together, pointed wizard's hat. Professor McGonagall led them to the staff table and made them face the stool and the students, which were all currently staring at them.

To avoid having to look at the hundreds of staring faces Harry looked up to the magnificent ceiling Journey had told him about when she read _Hogwarts A History _the first time. Harry knew the ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky without Hermione Granger's help but still couldn`t help but think that it looked like the roof simply opened up to the heavens.

For a while nobody spoke and Harry felt his nerves begin to creep in again. Everyone seemed to be paying a lot of attention to the hat and for a wild moment Harry thought that they might have pull a rabbit out of it, or something. Just then, a rip near the brim of the hat opened as if it were a mouth and the hat began to sing a song about the four houses.

By the end of the song almost all of Harry's nerves had vanished. _'We just got to try it on,' _Harry thought as he looked at Ron who was muttering about Fred and trolls, _'I can't believe he fell for his brother telling him 'wrestling a troll'... granted I was just as worried as he was.'_

Thinking back on the song, Harry started to feel more nervous. Harry didn't feel brave or cunning or any of the other traits that the hat mentioned. _'What if they can't find a house for me and I get sent home?'_ Harry thought worriedly as Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a large scroll. A horrible thought occurred to Harry for the first time since he heard about the houses, _'What if Journey and I get in separate houses? Will we still be able to see each other?'_

Harry cast a quick look at his sister who was slightly down the row from him as Professor McGonagall explained the sorting to them. Journey wasn't looking at him at first, but she seemed to sense his look and brought her eyes away from the first girl to be sorted (Abbot, Hannah) and looked at him. She seemed to sense his worries and gave him a small smile. Just like that Harry knew that no matter what houses they were placed in, Journey would never abandon him.

Relieved, Harry turned back to the sorting just in time to hear the hat shout "HUFFLEPUFF" for the blonde, pigtailed Hannah. Harry watched as student after student tried on the hat and were sorted into the four houses. Harry noticed that sometimes the hat was very quick to decide where to put the student yet other times it took quite a while. Harry thought the record had to be 'Finnigan, Seamus' who sat for a full minute on the stool with the hat on his head until it shouted "GRYFFINDOR".

Harry only recognized a few of the kids who were being sorted. The bushy haired girl from the train went to Gryffindor (much to Ron's annoyance) and so did the boy who kept losing his toad. Harry felt bad for him when he got laughed at for running off with the hat in his nerves and hopped that he wouldn't do something as embarrassing. Malfoy got Slytherin almost before the hat even touched his head and so did Crabbe and Goyle.

Finally, Professor McGonagall called Harry's name.

"Potter, Harry!"

Immediately, whispers broke out amongst the students. Harry tried to ignore them as he walked to the stool but all the same he wished he didn't have to. Just as Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head Harry saw a few students actually standing up to get a good look at him.

Harry couldn't see anything besides the inside of the hat since it was so large. He waited for something to happen and was not disappointed.

"Well," a voice whispered in his ear, "you are a difficult one. You have plenty of courage even though you haven't had a chance to show it. You stand up for what you believe is right and fight for what you believe in. Gryffindor would suit you well.

"You have quite the intelligent mind even without your strong memory … what's this? You can cast wandless magic – or 'will magic' as you call it. That is a very rare gift Mr. Potter and your sister was right to keep it silent, magic of this calibre hasn't been seen since I was created. You have a desire for knowledge but I feel you are much too temperamental to be able to feel at home in quiet Ravenclaw.

"You are fiercely loyal to your friends and those you see as family. However, I think that you enjoy taking breaks from your studies far too much to be well-suited for Hufflepuff.

"You have much talent oh and I can see a great thirst to prove yourself. You have many fine qualities and could do well in any house even though you would do better in some over others … So where shall I put you?"

Harry knew that he didn't want to be in the same house as _Malfoy_ or the house Voldemort used to be in so he thought repeatedly, "_Not Slytherin_."

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the voice, "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that – no? Well, if you're sure – better be GRYFFINDOR!"

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Seconds ticked by as Journey watched Harry sit on the stool with the hat on his head. After two minutes the brim of the hat finally opened wide and shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"

Journey smiled, happy that her brother got into the house of courage. She knew that there was no better place for him to go and that he would be thrilled to be in the same house as their parents. Sure enough, Harry was beaming when Professor McGonagall took off the hat to the loud applause of the Gryffindor table, definitely the loudest applause yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand with a pompous air and Fred and George were yelling 'We got Potter!' for laughs. Harry sat down opposite to a ghost who patted his arm, making Harry give a funny expression that almost made Journey laugh out loud.

When the Gryffindor table had finally calmed down, Professor McGonagall resumed the sorting.

"Potter, Journey!"

There were a few whispers around the hall as Journey walked to the stool but Journey paid them no mind. She held her head up and stared the hall down until the hat covered her vision of them.

"Ooh, two challenges in a row," whispered a voice in her ear. Journey felt a strange pressure and tingling in her head, almost as if her mind was being tickled. The sensation was rather annoying so she mentally tried to push at it so it would go away. It worked for a moment and Journey felt relieved as the pressure lifted. Suddenly, the hat laughed and she was pretty sure the whole hall heard it. Why had the hat laughed? It hadn't laughed for anyone else.

Just then the pressure returned with a vengeance. "This _is_ unusual." The hat chuckled gleefully, "I only use a small amount of Legimency to look into a person's mind to sort them but even so, you were able to push me out without knowing anything about Occlumency! I recommend getting some books on the subject because it appears that you are quite a natural … oh and I can see why! If your gift gets any stronger – and it probably will since you're still young – you may be able to actually _see_ the future and we can't have just anyone invading your mind to see it as well! Imagine the devastation it would cause!"

'_Aren't you getting a little bit off topic?'_ Journey thought to the hat, _'aren't you supposed to be sorting me?'_

The hat huffed. "All right, all right. One more thing, look at the books that you bought at that strange shop. The one about magical theory will tell you how the Ministry tracks magic … and how you and your brother can get around it and the one on wandless magic will give you the answers you seek about your 'abilities'."

Journey's annoyance at not being sorted was cut short. '_What do you –'_

The hat ignored her and started to actually sort her. "Now let's take a look at where you belong shall we? My, I don't think I've ever seen such protectiveness, you would really do anything for your brother wouldn't you? Don't get sarcastic with me! That type of loyalty will be very important for the future and would make Helga Hufflepuff demand that you be sorted into her house. Sadly, you don't extend loyalty to others very easily, even today when you punched that boy in the face it was more out of anger towards his remarks towards your parents rather than for anyone in that compartment.

"You bravely take punishments for your brother, but it is hard to tell if that is because of loyalty or on your bravery alone. You don't seem to fear anyone either, but that could be taken as stupidity rather than courage. Gryffindor would suit you but I feel you would clash with many of your female housemates.

"You have a lot of ambition here! And your cunning rivals that of any Slytherin I've seen. You use any means to get what you want, even manipulating people by making them feel sorry for you! Salazar would love to have you in his house but I fear you would be ostracized because of your connection to your brother and your firm beliefs on Muggleborns…

"But what's this? Your thirst for knowledge knows no bounds! Even Miss Granger's love of books pales in comparison to your thirst to learn, for you learn not only from books but also from people and your very surroundings! You also have the power to back up that knowledge, and will stop at nothing to learn something new.

"So that leaves two choices, Ravenclaw or Slytherin … no preferences I see? Well then, I guess I'll put you in SLYTHERIN!"

Journey smiled, she was in the house for the ambitious and cunning! She waited for Professor McGonagall to come and take the Sorting Hat off of her head like she had for the other students but after several long moments where nothing happened, Journey decided to just take that hat off herself.

Journey almost wished that she had kept the hat on when she saw the shocked faces of the entire hall. No one was clapping. She didn't expect a large applause like Harry, but she thought that she would have at least gotten the polite applause that all of the other first years had received.

Then the whispers started.

It sounded as if someone had let lose an entire colony of bees into the great hall. The sounds of so many students whispering created a constant buzzing noise and Journey began to feel slightly nervous. She looked at Harry, _'surely he won't hate me … right?'_ She didn't have any prejudice against the houses, but she knew that most people did and she hoped her brother wouldn't be one of those people.

Journey's heart clenched when she saw Harry's shocked look. _'He hates me … because I'm in Slytherin,'_ Journey thought dejectedly. She had thought Harry would be able to look past prejudices for her, but apparently not.

At that moment the shocked look on Harry's face turned into a bright smile. Just like that, Journey knew that Harry didn't care she was in Slytherin. Journey's heart lifted and she walked to the Slytherin table with her head held high, ignoring all the whispers that followed her. It didn't matter to Journey what anyone else thought about her sorting, all that mattered was that Harry accepted her.

After Professor McGonagall finally regained herself, the last few students were all quickly sorted (Ron went into Gryffindor and Journey was relieved that Harry would have a friend there) before Dumbledore stood up. He gave them a small welcoming speech ending it with, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

Journey snorted at Dumbledore's odd words, making the first years around her look at weirdly. "Why would he teach us those words?" Journey asked in slight confusion.

"What do you mean?" a dark-skinned boy with slanted eyes who was sitting across from her asked.

Journey looked over at him and said, "Well, it's just that those words are old or lesser-known insults. He headmaster of the school, so why would he teach a bunch of kids new words to insult each other with?"

Those who had been listening shared a smirk or a small laugh. "I don't think you have to worry about that," the same boy answered, "I think that maybe two or three other people understood what those words meant. Besides, they don't sound insulting enough for most of the hot-heads, especially the Gryffindors, to use."

There was an odd, tense silence and Journey knew she was being tested. To give herself time to think of an appropriate answer she started to pile food onto her plate. She had been partially surprised to see the food suddenly appear but then thought that you could expect nothing less from a magical school.

Finally, Journey figured she had a decent answer. Normally she would have defended her brother from the slight but, she was surrounded by Slytherins, many of whom would be living with her for the next seven years. She didn't want to push any possible away when her brother actually _was_ a hothead.

"That may be," Journey finally said, "but, I think you should ask your fellow _Slytherin_ Draco Malfoy about being a hot-head. He looked like he was about to blow before I shut him up."

"That was you?" a thin, weedy-looking boy asked amid the laughter. "Draco came into our compartment with a bloody, broken nose begging my brother to fix it."

Everyone had a good laugh at Draco's expense, making Journey glad that he was sitting a ways down the table from them and couldn't hear them.

After that, formal introductions were given. Blaise Zabini was the one who had asked her about the insults, while the weedy-looking boy was Theodore Nott. There were three girls sitting around Journey as well. Daphne was sitting on Journey's right and had blonde hair and icy-blue eyes. Tracey Davis was sitting on Journey's other side and had long, brown hair and brown eyes. Finally, Lilith Moon was sitting beside Theo (he refused to let anyone call him anything but) and had short, black hair and brown eyes behind her glasses.

"What did you do to Draco, and why?" Daphne asked after introductions were finished.

"I punched him in the nose," Journey started, creating another wave of laughter with Theo crying out 'Draco got punched by a girl!' before she continued, "and I did it because he was insulting my mother by saying that Muggleborns are filthy."

Silence. _'This will be the real test,'_ Journey thought as she watched the other first years glance around awkwardly. Journey refused to be friends with people who did nothing but insult Muggleborns and though she thought all of the people around her were pleasant, she would not hang out with them if they were like Draco.

Tracey spoke first. "Well then," everyone looked at her but she did not falter under their gazes, "good on you for punching Draco then. I'm a halfblood myself, and I was afraid that being in Slytherin I'd be surrounded by rude, arrogant, pureblood gits. I'm glad to see that I was wrong."

Journey smiled at Tracey but didn't have time to say anything to her when Theo spoke up. "I may be pureblood, but I know what it's like to face prejudice. Ever since I was old enough to go out, people always call me 'Death Eater' or similar variations, simply because my father was a – a suspected Death Eater. I vowed to myself to never show the same prejudice, even if it meant going against my father's teachings that Muggleborns are scum."

Journey was grateful that two of her new friends didn't hate Muggleborns, but she knew she couldn't hope to expect the same from all of her new friends.

She was right.

"I don't like Muggleborns," Blaise said almost apologetically, "but not for the same reasons as Draco who hates them simply because his father told him to. I don't like them because they come into _our_ world and try to change it. We were here first so they should have to accommodate to how we run our world or go back to the Muggle world. I don't mind bloodtraitors except for the fact that they are always trying to protect Muggles. Muggles outnumber use probably a thousand to one, if anyone needs protecting it's the magical world. I can tolerate Muggleborns if they can accept our world, and I don't actively seek out Muggleborns to taunt, but I don't think I will ever actually _like_ any. If you can accept my views on Muggleborns, I will respect yours."

Journey nodded at him, it was more than what she had expected.

Daphne and Lilith were somewhere in between the two views. Neither had actually _met_ a Muggleborn or a Muggle and all they had to go on was what their parents had told them. They were willing to give them a chance but until then, they would go by what their parents had told them while keeping an open mind.

Journey was happy that all of her new Slytherin friends could at least tolerate Muggleborns. She thought that they were probably some of the only Slytherins who thought this way, but she didn't care.

Conversation soon drifted to classes, what they expected from them and even the school itself. The others all relied on what their parents or older siblings had told them but some of them (Journey especially) had to rely solely on what they had learnt in books. Journey learnt that their Head of House was Professor Snape and that he would publically support them but in private, they would receive their punishment because Unofficial Slytherin House Rule Number 1: Slytherins stick together.

Finally, the magnificent feast was over and Dumbledore stood up to make another speech about the rules of the school. Many of the rules Journey planned on breaking straight away like 'no casting magic in the corridors' or 'no going into the Forbidden Forest' but the last one she wasn't sure about. She didn't feel like dying, especially not painfully, so she'd have to do some snooping around first to see if it was actually worth going into the third floor corridor on the right-hand side.

Before they were dismissed, Dumbledore gleefully told them that they had to sing the school song. Journey had to laugh at the teachers' suddenly fixed smiles. Not one to miss a chance to annoy teachers' Journey sang the song to the tune of a show she had seen her cousin watch about a strange, yellow mouse that could shoot lightning at people. She was the second last one to finish (everyone else was trying to finish the song quickly) and was beat only by Fred and George who were singing the song to a slow funeral march.

After the song was over, they were dismissed. An upper year in Slytherin who was a prefect according to the badge led them out of the great hall and into the dungeons. Journey and the other first years tiredly followed behind her, too tired to even talk amongst themselves. Journey tried to keep tabs on where they were going so that she would be able to find the great hall again but everything looked so similar it was rather difficult.

After what seemed like forever, the prefect finally stopped at a wall. It looked the exact same as any other piece of wall that they had passed but Journey could sense the magic surrounding it.

The prefect turned and spoke to them in an authoritative voice. "This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room. No one is to know the password – which will be changed biweekly and posted on the notice board. If anyone is found to have given the password to someone who is outside of Slytherin, the consequences will be … most unpleasant. Currently the password is: 'Zeus'."

As she said the word, the wall opened up behind the prefect. She walked in and everyone quickly followed behind her. Journey was much too tired to examine the common room around her but could tell that there was a lot of green. The prefect led them to two archways on the other side of the room and said, "Boys dormitories or through the archway on the left."

After the boys had left, the prefect looked over the girls. "Now," she said quietly, "Girls dorms are down the right archway. Boys cannot enter the girls' dorms but we can enter theirs. However, there is a slight problem. Dorms can only support five people. Either one of you will have to bunk with the second year girls who have an empty bed or, you will have to split yourselves into two groups and have two rooms. Which will it be?"

A girl who looked remarkably like a pug spoke up. "I don't want to share a room with _filth_," she said in an awful, high-pitched voice, "So Milicent and I will have one of the rooms. Greengrass and Moon are welcome to join us."

Journey looked worriedly at Daphne. _'Will she want to room with them since they have purer blood?'_ she thought as Daphne looked over at the pug-faced girl.

Turns out she didn't need to worry.

"Lilith and I do not wish to room with _animals_," even the prefect had to hold back a laugh at Daphne's reference to the girl's pug-like looks and Milicent's ape ones, "so we will room with Tracey and Journey."

The girl looked scandalized but the prefect didn't let her get any words in. "Well then," she said when she saw a possible fight brewing, "I'll go tell the house elves. You can follow behind me after a few seconds, they are quite quick." And with that she turned and walked under the right archway.

There was a tense moment of silence. Journey was afraid that the pug-faced girl would start a fight with Daphne, but turns out she didn't have to worry. All the girl did was stick her nose in the air and walk under the archway, Milicent following dutifully behind her.

"You know," Journey said slowly making the remaining girls look at her, "if she keeps walking around like that she'll walk into something."

It wasn't remarkably funny, but it was enough. Everyone broke into small snickers as the tension broke before they too, walked under the archway. They passed all of the dorms for the upper years in descending order before they finally came across a door that said 'First Years' along with their names written underneath it on a silver plaque.

When they walked inside they saw that their trunks were already placed against the beds. Much too tired to move them, the girls decided to just sleep on the bed where their trunk was. Journey ended up getting the bed near the window (which was completely black at the moment) and in between Daphne and Tracey, leaving Lilith on the other side of Daphne near the door. The girls all quickly changed into their pyjamas and crawled into their four-poster beds.

Journey tiredly said goodnight to everyone and received similar responses. Journey crawled under the covers and peacefully shut her eyes, not knowing that her sleep would be anything _but_ peaceful …

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**amethystdreamstar: Well there is chapter six, all 14800 words of it. This chapter was quite annoying to write because I only lost it and had to retype the last couple thousand words about four times -.- After I lost it the first time, I started to re-fix and re-type a bunch of it, and lost it again! I lost it two other times but those times I had only written a little bit. Still, it was really annoying …**

**Surprised that Journey is friends with the twins? Don't worry, just because she is now a Slytherin (which was really last minute I had already made her a Ravenclaw before I decided to change it) the twins will still be her friend.**

**Draco will make another appearance soon, as will Hermione. Don't get me wrong, just because I wrote them in an unfavourable light doesn't mean I don't like them. Draco just doesn't know anything other than what his father has told him. I actually love Hermione I just thought she was really annoying in the beginning. Her speech is almost identically to what was in the book and I was rather surprised/disgusted to see that one of the first things she said to Harry was 'I know all about you'. She sounded like a crazy fangirl. **

**The words Dumbledore said are actually insults by the way :P I'm pretty sure all of you can guess the tune Journey sang to and if not, shame on you :P I actually sang it in my head and it worked out … well it worked out until I couldn't sing the song without confusing the words with the actual words :P**

**I hope you like my Slytherins cuz I spent a lot of time looking them up :P Some people have it so that an entire group of Slytherins is pro-Muggleborns but I think that that's unrealistic. Having two plus Journey is a lot, and Blaise acts rather anti-Muggleborns and Bloodtraitors in the books. I chose these particular Slytherins because while they were in Slytherin, most of them didn't follow Draco's crowd and were quite loners. The girls followed Pansy around a bit, but I think that's mostly because she probably scared them into it.**

**Thanks to all of my lovely reviewers :) MarkerBarker78, you were honest as always and I know I misspell a lot. I have been reading these chapters though but I guess I just miss some of them … okay a lot :P I did have someone reading the chapters but I haven't hung out with him in a while and we will be going to different schools this fall in different cities so he won't be able to proofread anymore :'( **

**Also, thanks to 123abc-harrypotter for all of your lovely reviews, they were greatly appreciated :)**

**About going to school, I'm off to university in the fall so my updates will probably slow down. School is very important to me and I don't want to waste the eleven thousand I'm paying just for first term for the sake of writing a bit faster :P Updates will probably slow down until Christmas time, then they will pick up again since I'll be on a co-op term.**

**Please review and tell me what you think :D**


	7. Chapter 7: Change is Easy or Difficult

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Everything that is underlined is taken directly from the book.**

"talking"

'_thought'_

**'**_**written words'**_

**Chapter 7**

**Change can be Easy or Difficult**

_Fire surrounded her, blocking off any chance of escaping. A menacing laugh filled the air, making her hair stand on end. She tried to turn around, to see who was laughing, but found herself unable to move. The fire seemed to be getting closer to her with every passing second and still she could do nothing. The laughing got louder and she heard some words within the laughter but she couldn't make them out since she was too concerned with the fire, which was now close enough that she could feel the heat all around her._

_Someone was screaming – no – _she_ was screaming. Someone was calling her name and she wanted to turn around but she still couldn't move and the fire was too close. It was going to consume her! She struggled against whatever was holding her there but she still couldn't move. She was beginning to panic as she heard footsteps behind her. She heard a shout and felt a rush of magic coming towards her. Time seemed to slow as the magic flew towards the air towards her. She tried again to break free of the magic holding her down but nothing seemed to be working. She was screaming again. The magic was a foot away from her and – _

Journey woke up with a start, clutching her chest as she tried to calm down her breathing. It took several minutes before Journey's heart rate had slowed down enough so that she could think clearly.

'_What was that?'_ Journey thought to herself as she struggled to remember what she had dreamed about. Normally, Journey didn't have any dreams and for one to affect her this much … it was making Journey nervous.

'_There was fire,'_ Journey thought slowly as pieces started coming back to her, _'and laughter … but not of the humorous sort.'_ Journey strained her brain for a few more moments but couldn't seem to grasp any other details from the dream. She couldn't even remember who the girl was from the dream, only that she was there.

Looking over at her bedside table Journey saw that it was almost six o'clock. _'Might as well get up then,'_ Journey thought as she quietly got out of bed trying not to disturb the other girls or wake Aurora who was sleeping at the foot of her bed. Journey opened her trunk as quietly as she could and grabbed her shower things and a set of robes which now featured the Slytherin colours instead of just plain black. Journey ran her finger over the snake on the crest, hoping that even though she was sorted into Slytherin, her parents would still be proud of her.

Pushing the thought aside, Journey closed the lid of her trunk with a quiet 'click' and walked into the bathroom to have a quick shower. She took her time, something that the Dursleys would never have allowed, and before long she could hear the sounds of the bathroom door opening and closing and the other shower turning on beside her. Journey quickly finished up as there were only three showers for four girls and she didn't want to leave anyone waiting. Journey only struggled a little bit as she tried to put on her robes for the second time and walked out of the stall to see Lilith waiting for her, still looking half asleep.

"Good morning!" Journey said cheerily as she walked passed Lilith to the sink so she could brush her teeth. Lilith made a noise that with a little imagination could sound like a greeting before walking into the shower and closing the curtain behind her, making Journey snicker. _'Someone is not a morning person.'_

After brushing her teeth and washing her face Journey contemplated on what to do with her hair. Normally she didn't care what her hair looked like, but today she wanted to make a good impression on her professors and classmates, meaning she could not look haphazardly put together. Deciding to just to something simple, Journey brushed her hair back and put a green headband in that matched her eyes and kept her hair out of her face. Satisfied with her appearance, Journey left the bathroom and put her stuff away in the first compartment of her trunk. Aurora was awake now and butted her head against Journey's leg, demanding that Journey pick her up and pet her. Journey giggled at the kitten's antics but happily obliged.

After spending several minutes scratching the purring feline behind the ears, Journey put her down on the bed and grabbed a toy for her to play with from the trunk's first compartment while also grabbing her bottomless bag the goblins had given her. She put all her notebooks in the bag since she wasn't sure which classes she had today yet and didn't want to leave anything behind. She also grabbed her text books but decided after some deliberation to leave her supplementary books behind since she thought that would be overkill. Journey also packed all of her different coloured pens and pencils so that she could keep her class notes consistent with the notes she'd already taken. Harry laughed at the amount of effort she put into her notes but Journey didn't mind, they couldn't all have Harry's amazing ability to remember nearly everything they had ever heard or read so Journey had to find a way that worked for her.

After she had finished packing her bag, Journey returned to playing with Aurora while she waited for the other girls to get ready for breakfast. Journey felt a little bit nervous for her first day of class and couldn't help thinking discouraging thought. _'What if I'm really behind everyone?'_ she thought worriedly while sitting back from Aurora absentmindedly, _'what if I'm so bad at magic that they send me back to the Dursleys and leave Harry all alone in Hogwarts?'_ Journey had no doubt that they'd keep Harry in Hogwarts, he was much too important to the wizarding world, but if she didn't have enough magical talent …

"Ready to go?" a voice behind Journey asked.

Journey turned from where she was sitting and saw that Tracey was the one who had asked the question and that the other girls were waiting by the door. All three of them were dressed in Slytherin robes that matched her own and like her, they had their book bags ready. Not wanting to keep her new friends waiting, Journey quickly grabbed her bag and rushed over to them.

The four girls walked down to the common room, where Journey got her first real look at the area she would be calling 'home' for the next seven years.

The room itself was very impressive. An elaborate mantelpiece was surrounding a small indentation in the wall where Journey guessed a fire was usually set. The walls looked slightly worn as did the ceiling, except the ceiling had chains hanging off of it supporting green-coloured lamps. There were several tables around the room with high-backed chairs around them, along with a couple of comfortable-looking armchairs closer to the fire. There was a large bulletin board against the wall closest to the exit and a few of the other walls had bookcases leaning against them.

'_Definitely meant to be more of a professional setting rather than somewhere to feel comfortable in,'_ Journey thought as she followed Tracey and the others out the common room with the wall closing back up behind them, looking to all the world just a plain, ordinary dungeon wall.

It took twenty minutes and three wrong turns before the first-year Slytherin girls finally made it to the Great Hall for breakfast. As they walked over to an empty spot at the Slytherin table, Journey scanned the Gryffindor table for any sign of Harry. Journey was a bit upset when she saw that he wasn't there since she really wanted to talk to Harry about what happened yesterday and tell him that she hadn't suddenly gone over to the dark side now that she was in the Slytherin house.

Deciding to wait until later to talk to Harry, Journey sat down with the other girls and began to place some bacon and eggs onto her plate. The four of them talked about what they expected classes to be like, who was a good teacher based on what their older brothers and sisters had said and that sort of thing. They had just gotten into a debate on whether or not they thought astronomy was a useless subject when Theo and Blaise sat down next to Daphne looking rather haggard.

"Rough night?" Lilith asked.

Theo grunted as he began eating while Blaise nodded tiredly. "Draco thought it he could command the two of us around like he commands Crabbe and Goyle."

Daphne smirked at him. "Bet that went down well."

Theo snickered and said, "I told him that if he ever tried to make me unpack his stuff again, I'd punch him in the nose … and that if it hadn't already been done today I would have done it then too."

"Bet Lucius would have been so proud of him, getting beat up twice in one day!" Tracey snickered.

Journey smiled and let out as small giggle even though she had no idea who 'Lucius' was and watched the others laugh. It seemed as if everyone in Slytherin that she had met so far knew each other, or at least knew _of_ each other, which sometimes made Journey feel like she was an outsider. She felt that she needed to prove herself to these people to become their friends and she wasn't sure if she liked that.

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Harry watched as Journey laughed with the Slytherins around her, feeling slightly hurt. He'd wanted to talk to Journey this morning but didn't want to approach her in front of so many Slytherins. He had missed her last night. It was the first time that he could remember that they hadn't shared a room or the bed, and he felt really lonely laying in the gigantic bed all by himself.

"Cheer up," Harry heard Ron say, making him turn away from the Slytherin table and back to his new friend who was currently shovelling eggs into his mouth as fast as humanly possible. When several minutes passed and Harry still didn't show signs of eating his breakfast Ron paused his inhalation of food and looked at Harry.

"Mate, she's still your sister even though she is … Slytherin. Maybe the Sorting Hat put her in the wrong house or something? We had a second uncle or something that was in Slytherin and mom said he was an alright guy."

Harry appreciated Ron's efforts to cheer him up even if they weren't really that successful. Harry didn't really care that Journey was in Slytherin, what he cared about was that she was in a different house than him and that he missed having her constant, supporting presence. He knew that he couldn't spend his whole life with Journey at his side but he wasn't sure if he would be able to do so much on his own when he was used to doing everything with her. Even this morning, people had been whispering about him as he walked to breakfast with Ron and all he could think about was that if Journey were with him, she would have said something to each and every person who made him feel uncomfortable to make sure he was ok.

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Journey's first day of class passed in a blur.

Professor Snape had handed out their timetables during breakfast to everyone, barely even looking at Journey at all. Journey wondered about her head of house, but for some reason couldn't get any _feelings_ at all from him. Even when she tried to focus, Journey felt as if there was nothing _to_ grasp at, which confused her greatly.

Journey quickly put the thought out of her mind so as not to distract herself during her classes and got up with her fellow first year Slytherins. They followed the directions of an upper-year student to get to their first class of the day, Charms, which was taught by Professor Flitwick. Professor Flitwick was a very small man and needed to stand on a stack of books to address the class, making some of the Slytherins snicker at him behind their hands. Journey could care less that their professor was the shortest man she had ever seen, he had an enthusiasm for teaching and seemed like a fair, honest man, which was enough for Journey to like him.

After Charms, the Slytherin first years headed down to the greenhouses for the one and only class Journey was dreading, Herbology. Journey's amazing ability to not be able to work with plants at _all_ seemed to carry over to the magical world. In the first ten minutes of the period Journey had accidentally cut off the bud of a flower that Professor Sprout was having them trim, causing a strange liquid to burst out and spray her and a few other Slytherins. After that, Journey had accidentally stepped on a vine of some super-important plant that the Professor was growing. Turns out the plant didn't like being stepped on so it whacked her upside the head, making her pour to much Dragon-dung fertilizer on her plant and toss the bucket of fertilizer into the air and knock a box of … something over which sparked and set four peoples' plants on fire including her own. The bucket of Dragon-dung hand landed between Crabbe and Goyle and some of the dung had flown out and hit them but thankfully, they seemed too thick to notice. Then, Journey had somehow managed to injury the venomous tentacula that was hanging on the wall when she was putting the fertilizer away. Journey later found out that it was allergic to the fertilizer and had been hit with some of it when she had flung her bucket, causing boils to erupt on the plant. Those accidents, along with several other mishaps, caused the Professor Sprout to look at her thoughtfully.

"I haven't had a student _this_ horrible at Herbology since your mother came to Hogwarts, Miss Potter," the Professor said quietly after she called Journey back after class for a moment. Journey looked up sharply from where she had been examining her shoes to look at her professor in shock. _'She knew my mum?'_ Journey thought in a daze.

Professor Sprout saw the look on Journey's face and chuckled. "Yes, I taught your mother," the professor seemed to be looking past Journey now, lost in memories of an earlier time, "she was one of the finest witches Hogwarts had ever seen. Bright… caring… thoughtful… there are so many words that could be used to describe Lily Evans. She was exceptionally talented at Charms and Potions, and very good at Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Transfiguration… although your father was definitely the master of that subject. Even in her other subjects that she didn't really care for Lily excelled and was top of her class… except for Herbology. Your mother couldn't even water a plant without damaging it."

Professor Sprout started laughing at that point and Journey smiled. This was something about her mom that was probably not common knowledge, something personal. Journey was glad to know something more about her parents, and to find that she had a little bit in common with her mother besides her looks, and couldn't wait to tell Harry what she knew.

When Professor Sprout had stopped laughing she turned back to Journey her eyes were soft but focused, she seemed to know where Journey's thoughts were going and gave Journey a small but warm smile. "After several months and many ruined plants later," she said with a slight chuckle, "I realized that the only way to get your mother to pass was if I had her take extra lessons outside of class for her practical knowledge while in class time she would simply observe. It seems as if I will need to offer the same service to you."

Journey looked down, embarrassed for the fact that she already needed extra help. _'It's only the second class!' _Journey thought dejectedly, _'what if I'm so bad at my other classes, that they decide that I should just be sent back to the Muggle world and –'_

Journey was interrupted from her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, Journey saw Professor Sprout smiling kindly at her. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, dear," Professor Sprout said softly, "no one will know about it if you don't want them to. You can tell everyone that you are just in detention for damaging my plants if that makes you feel any better."

Journey almost smirked, _'She knows how to speak straight to a Slytherin's heart, wonder why she's head of Hufflepuff?'_ Brushing the thought aside Journey nodded to Professor Sprout, who was awaiting an answer.

The professor beamed. "Terrific!" she said with a clap of her hands. "I'll look for someone in your year to work with, but so far no one seems to stand out from the rest. I've only taught two classes though so I still have half the first years to teach!" she said with a laugh, making Journey laugh as well at the woman's enthusiasm. "If I can't find anyone in your year I'll have to look elsewhere but hopefully it won't come to that. Sweet Merlin! I've kept you for too long and you're going to be late for your next class! Here's a note for your professor." Professor Sprout grabbed a spare piece of parchment and scribbled a quick note onto it and handed it to Journey before shooing her out of the greenhouse.

Turns out Professor Sprout needn't have worried, for history was their next class with the Ravenclaws. Professor Binns was a ghost and didn't even notice her as he droned on about some goblin war. Already, half of the Slytherins were sound asleep and the most of the rest were well on their way. Determined not to follow her lazy classmates, Journey pulled out her textbook and notebooks and began writing. Journey had already started making notes on her history textbook before the term had started to it was really simple to just pick up where she had left off.

Even though she wasn't directly listening to Binns, Journey still had trouble paying attention to her book and felt her eyelids drooping. _'Maybe his voice has some power to make people fall asleep even if they aren't listening to him,'_ Journey thought almost sarcastically as she pinched herself a third time in an attempt to stay awake. _'Maybe one of the older Slytherins will know of a way to block out sound from coming in so I can study in piece.' _With that thought in mind, Journey turned back to her books for the last ten minutes of class and determinedly blocked out the droning sounds of Professor Binn's voice.

After History, the Slytherins had lunch and then astronomy, where they learned about star charts and the various constellations. They wouldn't have their practical lessons until Thursday at midnight, but Professor Sinstra believed that they should know at least some theory before they try anything practical.

The next morning the Slytherins had transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs. Journey knew without _knowing_ that Professor McGonagall was a very strict teacher, and she was proven right when on the first day, the professor threatened to throw them out without being welcomed back if they acted out.

Journey was thrilled to discover that Transfiguration was something she was truly gifted at. Professor McGonagall had given them each a matchstick to turn into a needle after she had finished teaching. Everyone else in the class had started trying to cast immediately but Journey didn't. Instead, she went over the notes she had taken from the textbook and from the lecture which were side-by-side in her notebook. After she had done this, Journey turned back to her match and looked at it. Both the textbook and Professor McGonagall had stressed how important visualization was, so Journey decided to try that instead of casting blindly like the rest of her classmates. Journey stared at the match, examining the rounded red tip, the rectangular wooden body. After she had examined the match, Journey shut her eyes and focused on that image. When the match was clear in her mind, Journey started to think of how it would change into a needle. _'The whole thing would need to turn silver,'_ Journey thought and imagined the match turning silver, _'and the body-part of the match would need to become rounded… and thinner… the eye of the needle would should go where the light-up part of the match is, since it's already bigger at that end, and the other end would have to be pointed.'_ As Journey thought of each of these changes she imagined them happening to the figure in her mind. By then end of her thought process, Journey had a perfect needle visualized in her mind.

"Miss Potter?"

Journey's eyes snapped open and she looked up to see Professor McGonagall giving her a stern look. In her peripheral vision, Journey could see the eyes of her classmates on her and a few were even laughing quietly.

"Well? Are you going to try or not?" Professor McGonagall said sternly, "I will not tolerate any slacking off in my class, Miss Potter."

Journey couldn't help the blush that formed on her face when several students snickered quietly. Forcing herself to ignore them, Journey nodded to Professor McGonagall indicating she was going to try the spell.

Quickly picking up her wand from the desk she had put it on earlier, Journey brought the image of the needle back to the forefront of her mind. Turning a matchstick to a needle was a new spell for her so she focused as hard as she could. Right before she said the incantation with the wand movements, Journey pulled out some of her magic. As she said the words on the board, Journey struggled to keep the image of the needle in her mind and keep her magic from falling back to her 'centre'. Right when she finished the last syllable however, Journey felt a strange shift. Journey's magic shaped itself without any prodding from her and began to rush down towards her wand. The magic seemed to understand her desire to change the matchstick in front of her into the needle that she was visualising in her mind. Journey could almost see the magic leaving her wand and wrapping around the match, moulding it into the needle she so desired. This had never happened before when Journey had tried magic, even the ones from her school books, but thoughts of her magic's strange behaviour vanished from Journey's mind when she saw the product of her spell. The flat edges of what had been the matchstick became rounded and the flat end became a point. The red tip of the matchstick turned silver, along with the rest of the matchstick and a hole appeared at the end opposite the point. When the change was complete, the magic abruptly stopped flowing, shocking Journey a bit and left her exhausted. Happily and with a small amount of pride and shock, Journey picked up the matchstick-turned-needle and examined her work. ' _It's a little heavier than it should be',_ Journey thought, '_and a bit too thick… it isn't as smooth as a needle should be either, still feels a bit like wood.'_

Despite its imperfections however, Journey knew that what she was holding in her hand was unmistakably a needle and she was proud of her work. After examining the needle she was holding for a little bit longer, Journey went to pass it to the professor but paused at the look on her face.

Professor McGonagall was looking at her in a mixture of surprise, pride, sadness, regret, envy, and something that almost looked like wistfulness but Journey was sure she was imagining it. Without saying anything, Professor McGonagall took the needle from her and examined it closely.

The class waited in shocked silence for Professor McGonagall to say something. Journey felt a blush start to creep back into her cheeks from their intense scrutiny.

After what seemed like a few hours, but was really only a few seconds, Professor McGonagall handed the match to Journey and said, "Very well done, especially for a first try Miss Potter. I don't even think your father managed that feat, and he was one of the best Transfiguration students I'd ever seen once he put his mind to it. 20 points to Slytherin."

Professor McGonagall gave her a rare smile (the older Slytherins told her that she never really smiled so she assumed this instance was a rare case), and Journey felt her heart skip a beat once she fully processed what the professor had said. Journey smiled back at Professor McGonagall and gave her a quiet, "thank you," so that she wouldn't appear rude, but inside her head was spinning. _'My dad was _that_ good at transfiguration?'_ Journey thought in awe,_ 'and Professor McGonagall thinks that I might be as good as him?'_

Journey smiled to herself and picked up another match that Professor McGonagall gave her. Journey closed her eyes again as she envisioned the needle again in her mind, fixing all of the small errors that she had found with the last time. It took less time to picture the fixed-up needle in her mind, but it still took her a while to fully commit the image to her mind. Journey cast the spell again and felt the magic stir within her on its own accord to change the needle.

Journey thought about how her magic was reacting while she examined her new needle. When her and Harry had been practicing before, they always had to call up the magic and shape it themselves, even when trying some of the spells from their textbooks. What had changed?

Listening to the class casting the spell in attempts to copy her, Journey found her answer. _'The words… of course! The words and the wand movements acts as a focus… so we don't have to focus ourselves!'_ They hadn't been paying attention that much to the words or wand movements when trying their spells at home. Both Journey and Harry had thought that the words and wand movements were just for show, but now Journey knew better. She couldn't wait to tell Harry about her revelation.

'_Harry!'_

She couldn't believe she had forgotten him! With all the changes going on around her, she hadn't talked to her brother since the night of the sorting, _'which was days ago!'_ she scolded herself, _'what if people are singling him out for being a celebrity? Or are being mean to him? I don't even know how he's holding up with classes or … or anything!'_

Journey knew that she couldn't control her brother, and that if people _were _singling him out she couldn't really do anything, but she was so angry with herself for forgetting about him she didn't try to change her thoughts. It was especially hard since she had always been the protector of the two, and to suddenly know nothing of what her twin was going through …

Journey resolved to sit with her brother that night at dinner…

…and Merlin help anyone who tried to stop her.

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Harry sighed as he watched his sister walk out of the Great Hall with some first year Slytherins without even saying 'hi' to him. He knew he was sitting rather far away for the door and it was unlikely Journey had seen him but still…

'_Would it really take that much to just stop by to say 'hi' to your brother?'_ Harry thought dejectedly.

Ron tried to cheer him up, telling him that they had charms this afternoon with Professor Flitwick. Even though that class was quickly turning into one of Harry's favourites, the thought of seeing the fun, fair professor couldn't lighten his spirits. Harry quietly followed Ron to class and struggled to maintain his focus throughout the lesson. They were practicing wrist movements for the levitation charm, but they wouldn't actually be trying the charm until October. The tiny professor just wanted them to know the movement so that they could practice it on their own time.

Since charms was a double-class that day, the first year Gryffindors had nothing to do until dinner. Most went to go back to the dormitories to play Exploding Snap, but Harry decided he would try and find the library. Ron went with him, even though he thought he was bonkers for wanting to go to the library this early in term.

After several wrong turns and a trick staircase later, Harry finally found it. It was bigger than Flourish and Blotts by a fair bit and Harry knew that Journey would probably try and read the whole library before they left Hogwarts.

'_Journey,'_ the thought of his sister and her not speaking to him made Harry sad again, _'what did I do wrong? What if she doesn't like me anymore because I'm a Gryffindor?'_

The last thought scared Harry more than he liked to admit. Pushing it aside he sat down at the nearest table with Ron to start the one assignment they had for charms, hoping to finish it before dinner.

Harry could tell Ron was trying his best to keep his spirits up, and he felt bad for making his new friend put up with his less than stellar behaviour. Deciding to make it up to him, Harry helped him out with the assignment. Harry also said that he would help him learn how to study better and stay on top of things if Ron taught him how to play chess. Ron was a wicked chess player, the best in his family even, and Harry had always wanted to learn so they were both pleased with this arrangement.

An hour later, Harry realized that it was time for dinner so they quickly packed up their nearly-completed assignments and rushed off to the great hall.

They only made one wrong turn so the two Gryffindors reached the Great Hall just as everyone else in the castle seemed to be piling in. Harry and Ron quickly sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table that was usually for first years. It was furthest from the doors and closest to the teachers so that they could keep an eye on any troublemaking.

After getting himself seated, Harry looked over at the Slytherin table in hopes to catch a glimpse of his sister. He saw her group of friends sitting at their usual spot, but couldn't see Journey anywhere among them. Harry didn't even have time to feel confused when he felt someone sit down beside him.

"Hey, little bro."

Harry whirled around to his right to see Journey sitting there calmly, piling mashed potatoes onto her plate. Across form them, Ron was looking as thunderstruck as Harry felt. _'What is she doing here?'_

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked, voicing Harry's thoughts.

Something occurred to Harry. "I'm not little!" he said indignantly.

Journey chuckled. "You're shorter than me," she said with a smirk to him before looking at Ron with narrowed eyes. "I'm visiting my brother since I haven't been able to see him for the past few days. Is that a problem?"

Ron quickly shook his head, not wanting to get into an argument with his best mate's sister. "Of course not. Just didn't think different houses were allowed to sit at each other's tables."

Journey laughed, making Harry smile. He could almost _feel_ how happy she was through their twin bond, and it made him happy as well.

"I looked it up," Journey said after she had finished laughing, "The only time that you have to sit with your housemates is during really important feasts such as the Closing House Ceremony and the like."

Ron nodded and they all started talking about their classes. Harry and Ron both looked at Journey in awe when she pulled out the needles she had transformed in her very first transfiguration class. Not even Hermione Granger, the Gryffindor know-it-all, was able to get such a change by the end of class, and Journey did it on the first try! Harry immediately offered to let Journey be a part of his and Ron's 'study sessions', as they had begun to call them.

"I don't know if you want me as a part of your study group," Journey said with a slight blush on her face. "I'm absolutely rubbish at Herbology. Professor Sprout wants me to get special help _already_ cuz I'm absolutely rubbish with plants."

Harry was going to say something comforting but Ron beat him to it.

"Who cares if you're bad at Herbology," he said through a mouthful of chicken, "when you're _that_ good at one subject, it's okay to be bad at something else. Besides, Harry thinks he'll be decent at Herbology. You can help us with transfiguration, and Harry and I will help you with Herbology."

Journey appeared to be partially mollified by Ron's answer, but Harry could tell she was still slightly upset that she would need help in any subject. Journey _hated_ whenever she had to ask for help from anyone, even if it was in exchange for help with something else. Trying to cheer his sister up, Harry put his arm around her in a one arm hug to show that he didn't mind having to help her out a bit, and that she wasn't weak for needing help in the first place.

Journey smiled at him softly, and Harry knew that she understood what he was trying to say. They both turned back to Ron, who seemed oblivious of their interaction, and continued to discuss the first half of their first week at Hogwarts.

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The next morning, Journey couldn't wait to get out of bed. She had slipped Harry a note last night to meet her before breakfast started at the library so that they could talk in private about a few things. She wanted to tell him all the things she had learnt about their parents and how it was like living in the dungeons with the other Slytherins.

Journey always the first one awake, but this time she took extra care about being quiet since she was getting up earlier than usual. Journey had showered the night before so that she wouldn't have to this morning, part of her master plan to make sure no one woke up and asked her where she was going. She was breaking Unofficial Slytherin Rule Number 2, no Slytherin (especially a first year like herself), was to go out alone. The other houses might target them for an unfair fight, but Journey wasn't worried.

'_Who else would wake up at 5:30 in the morning and be walking around the castle, just to take out a no-name first year?'_ Journey thought with a smile as she silently walked across the Slytherin common room and out the wall-which-was-a-door.

Just because she thought it was improbable, didn't mean Journey was stupid. Before she walked around any corner, Journey always checked to make sure the coast was clear before walking out into the open. Most of the students in the other houses, especially the Gryffindors, hated Slytherins. Even though she hadn't done anything to anyone in another house personally, they might still attack her. At least, that's what the older Slytherins told her.

It seemed like no time at all before Journey was waiting in front of the library for Harry to show up. They weren't actually going to go _in_ the library, rather, they were going to go to an empty classroom where they were much less likely to be overheard or interrupted.

Several minutes passed while Journey waited behind a gargoyle for Harry to show up. She was just beginning to feel nervous when she heard familiar footsteps along the stone floor. Grinning, Journey jumped out from behind the gargoyle and tackled her brother in a hug.

"Oomph!" Harry said as he nearly fell to the ground but caught himself just in time. "A little warning next time!" he said in a muffled voice since Journey's fiery hair was over his face and he probably didn't want any to end up in his mouth as he talked.

Journey laughed. "How else would I make sure you were awake then? Had to make sure you weren't sleepwalking or anything."

Harry detached himself from his sister with a laugh. "I guess."

Journey beamed at him before grabbing his hand and pulling him along to an abandoned classroom down the hall. After checking to make sure that it actually _was_ abandoned, Journey quickly slipped in and shut the door after Harry went through.

They both decided to sit on what they assumed to be as a professors desk, since it had the least amount of dust. Harry sat cross-legged facing Journey, who had one leg tucked underneath her and the other dangling off the side of the desk. Journey had to smile when Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes. _'Definitely not a morning person,'_ Journey thought, remembering all the times she had to drag Harry out of bed so that they could get to school on time back when they were at the Dursleys.

'_Had that really only been a few days ago?'_ Journey thought in awe, _'it seems like a lifetime since we've been at the Dursleys' home.'_

"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked softly, breaking Journey out of her thoughts.

Journey gave her brother a soft smile. "I was just thinking about how it seems like we haven't been at the Dursleys in forever, but really it's only been a few days."

"I know what you mean," Harry said with a laugh. "I keep half-expecting to wake up and hear Aunt Petunia banging on the door telling us to make breakfast, and that this is all a dream."

"If this was a dream, do you really think I'd make myself so bad at Herbology?" Journey said with a completely straight face.

"I don't think any amount of dreaming _could_ make you good at Herbology," Harry countered, ducking the half-hearted swipe from Journey that was aimed at his head.

They talked for a bit about their classes. Both Harry and Journey thought that Professor Flitwick was going to be one of their favourite professors since he was fair and full of enthusiasm. Professor McGonagall also seemed to be a fair professor, but both twins agreed it would not be a good idea to get on her bad side. Harry thought Professor Sprout was lots of fun, especially since he got to care for a whole variety of plants that he never even knew existed. He had a good natured laugh at Journey, saying that even magic couldn't fix everything.

Journey was going to say something very witty back before she remembered what Professor Sprout had said to her. "Did you know that Mum sucked at Herbology?" Journey asked quietly while looking at the desk.

Harry's laughter abruptly stopped. Peaking up through her hair, Journey saw that Harry was looking at her open-mouthed with eyes as wide as saucers. He actually looked a lot like a goldfish.

Several moments later, Harry regained the ability to speak, sort of.

"What? How – How did you know? I – uh – really?" Harry stuttered.

Journey smiled sadly. _'It's times like this when you can tell how lost we are,'_ Journey thought, _'We try so hard to be strong for each other, since we have no one else to help us. And yet … as soon as someone mentions our parents, we both just seem to fall apart.'_

"Journey?" Harry whispered as he put a hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

Journey shook her head. She had to stop herself from bringing up her barrier of sarcasm, her fall-back plan Journey used whenever she felt vulnerable. She knew Harry didn't deserve that so instead she told him what Professor Sprout had told her.

"It's true," Journey said with a little bit of enthusiasm, "Professor Sprout told me herself that she hadn't had such a bad Herbology student since Mum came to Hogwarts. She couldn't even water a plant without killing it, even though she was top of her class in every other subject."

"Sounds like someone I know," Harry said with a smirk.

Journey swatted him on the arm but didn't say anything since she knew he was just teasing. She wasn't top of her class … yet.

"Mum was so awful Professor Sprout had to give her extra help, like she is giving me," Journey said only slightly dejectedly, "Mum didn't get the offer for a few months in… I think Professor Sprout wants to save as many plants from me as possible."

Harry laughed loudly at her theory, and Journey couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped her. It was kind of funny that Journey was that bad Herbology, not that she'd admit that to anyone out loud.

After a few moments, Harry quieted down. He had a wistful expression on his face, making Journey wonder what he was thinking about.

She didn't have to wait long. "I wonder what Dad was good at. Mum was good at everything… except Herbology of course, but no one has said anything about Dad."

"He was good at Transfiguration," Journey said without thinking, "McGonagall told me."

Harry refrained from gaping this time, but he still looked shocked. "Really?" he asked.

Journey nodded. "Yep. She told me so right after I changed my first match."

"Looks like you've got some of Mum and some of Dad in you then," Harry said with a chuckle. "You're rubbish at Herbology and awesome at Transfiguration."

The happiness in Harry's voice would have fooled almost anyone, but Journey could see the sadness and worry in his eyes. Journey wasn't sure why he was worried, but she knew she needed to end it before it grew out of hand.

"What are you upset about," Journey asked gently.

Journey knew Harry would know it was pointless to lie to her. Not only did she _know_ when someone was lying, she also had the advantage of living with him for their whole life. Journey knew what to look for if Harry tried to lie.

"You have some of Mum _and_ Dad in you," Harry said softly, "Would they still have loved me even if I'm not like them? Would they –"

Journey quickly reached across the desk and pulled Harry into a sharp hug, cutting off his sentence and ignoring his grunt of protest as he became unbalanced. He quickly settled down enough to hug her back and Journey continued to hold him for several, long moments. Finally, Journey let go enough that she could pull back and look Harry square in the face. He avoided her eyes for a few seconds but eventually gave up and looked right at her.

"Now you listen to me, Harry," Journey said gently but firmly, "I asked myself the same question when I was sorted into Slytherin. The only difference was that I was worried _you_ wouldn't love me anymore since house houses are enemies. All it took was for me to look at you for a few seconds to see that it didn't matter that we weren't in the same house, you're my _brother_, of course you still loved me! Harry, they were our _parents_. They wouldn't have cared if you had 12 toes, you are their _son_. They loved us unconditionally. I _know_ that."

Journey could see the relief slowly flood through Harry by the way his shoulders relaxed and the grin that slowly spread across his face. "Really?" he asked hopefully.

Journey smiled. "Really."

The longer she thought about it, the more she was able to convince herself that she _knew_ she was right.

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Journey quickly left the room after that since they started hearing a few scattered voices outside the room they were in. Harry waited a few more minutes before following after her. Journey was worried that some of the older Slytherins might not take too kindly to one of their own hanging out with a Gryffindor that often, even if said Gryffindor was her brother.

Harry didn't understand this. _'I mean sure, Gryffindor and Slytherin are arch-enemies,' _Harry thought as he slowly walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, '_but you would think that being siblings, twins even, overrules some stupid, 1000 year old house arguing. Whatever. Journey said we can still eat dinner together sometimes and that we can meet together as many mornings as I want to.'_

Satisfied with that thought, Harry picked up his pace. He made it to the Great Hall in record time and with only one wrong turn. He told Ron of his accomplishment, but Ron was shovelling food into his mouth he could only manage a, 'tha's grea' H'rry', while spraying food at him. Harry decided to wait until Ron started eating at a more sedated pace before saying anything else.

Looking across the Great Hall, Harry caught sight of Journey. She was sitting with her friends from Slytherin, who seemed to be almost finished their breakfast since they were talking more than eating. As if sensing his look, Journey shifted her eyes from the blonde haired girl sitting in front of her to look right at him. She gave him a small smirk and a wink before turning to the boy beside her and saying something.

Harry's heart swelled. He had been so worried that Journey hated him, but now he knew differently. She was his rock, someone he could depend on. With her ability to _know_ things, she seemed to always know what to say to him to get him out of his funks, like the one this morning. Harry didn't know what he would do without Journey.

Harry was pulled out of his musings by Ron, who had slowed down eating enough to talk about his second love, Quidditch.

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The next time Journey saw Harry was right before the only class the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins shared, Potions. It was taught by the Slytherin head of house, Professor Snape, a man that Journey had yet to meet personally.

"We'll see him tonight," Journey heard Daphne say from where she was standing on Journey's left.

For one quick second, Journey thought that Daphne had read her mind. Looking up, Journey saw that Daphne had addressed her comment to Theo.

"Why will we see Professor Snape tonight?" Journey asked curiously.

Daphne turned to look at her with a look of bewilderment in her icy-blue eyes. After a few seconds, the confusion cleared from her face and was replaced with understanding.

"I forgot," Daphne said apologetically, "Professor Snape always has a mandatory start-of-term house meeting on the last day of the week after his first staff meeting. Even before Professor Snape was our Head of House, Slytherin had these meetings. We all know about it because, well…"

Daphne struggled to come up with something to say without offending Journey. Journey didn't know _why_ she would be offended, but figured it had something to do with the 'Slytherin Politics' that she had seen glimpses of.

"We know about it because we have parents who were in Slytherin and they told us." Blaise said bluntly.

It took Journey a while to get the message behind the words. _'I'm an outsider,'_ Journey thought sadly, _'Everyone in Slytherin knows so much more than me about pretty much everything that it means to be a Slytherin since probably every single generation of their family has been in Slytherin. They know so much more than I do… how can I ever hope to fit in here when I don't even know how to start?'_

Journey was brought out of her depressing thoughts with the arrival of the Gryffindors, followed Draco and his henchmen, aka Crabbe and Goyle. Harry tried to catch Journey's eye but she avoided looking at him. Luckily, at that moment the door to the Potions classroom snapped open with a bang.

Standing in the doorway was none other than Professor Snape. His black eyes scanned over the nervous first years from behind his curtains of greasy, black hair. A sneer pulled at his lips, hinting that he was _not_ impressed with what he saw. After a few more seconds of nervous waiting, Professor Snape stood aside and said sharply, "Enter."

No one needed any prompting. Even the Slytherins, besides maybe Draco in his arrogance, were intimidated by their Head of House since they knew that if they missed behaved, Professor Snape would deal with them after class, privately. The first years scurried into the classroom like mice beneath the watchful gaze of an owl or a hawk waiting to swoop down on them. When all of the first years were in the room, Professor Snape slammed the door and turned with a swirl of his robes, which continued to billow out behind him as he stalked towards the front of the class.

Journey hoped she chose her seat wisely. After years of living at the Dursleys, it had become second nature to Journey to know how to go around attracting as little notice as possible, so as to not 'outshine' Dudley. In a classroom, Journey knew it was best to sit in the middle if the teacher was attentive. Teachers tended to split their attention between the eager-beavers and teacher's pets at the front of the room (to make sure their star-pupils where understanding what they were saying of course), and calling out troublemakers that sat at back of the room. They tended to ignore those sitting in the middle. Their eyes would simple glaze over them as they looked from the front of the room to the back, which is what Journey hoped for with this intimidating professor.

At first, Journey thought her plan had worked. Professor Snape had surveyed every student in the class with a critical eye as they floundered for a seat close to their friends, yet he seemed to look right over where she was sitting. Something was slightly off however, but Journey couldn't figure out what it was.

Journey didn't have time to ponder what was bugging her when Professor Snape launched into a speech. He spoke quietly, fear and awe keeping the class silent while he spoke.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses … I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Journey was hooked. Even with the offhanded way Professor Snape ended his speech and his monotone voice throughout, Journey could almost feel the passion he felt for the subject. Journey sat up a little straighter in her seat. She would soak up every scrap of information that this man, intimidating as he was, would offer her for he was truly a master of his subject.

Unfortunately for Journey, Professor Snape didn't continue speaking about potions. Instead, he suddenly called out, "Potter!"

Journey jumped. It was the first time Professor Snape had said anything in a voice higher than just above a whisper. Journey wasn't sure which Potter he was referring to but thankfully, at that moment Professor Snape turned his head to look at Harry.

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Journey's mind ran into overdrive, trying to think of the answer even as she turned to look at Harry. _'Asphodel … fields of Asphodel in Greek mythology…where are they… the Underworld! The fields of Asphodel were in the Underworld, which means death. Wormwood… wood is alive… life, death – Living Death!'_

Journey let out a small smile as she remembered the potion in just a few seconds before she frowned. The Draught of the Living Death was rather far into the textbook, and they wouldn't even be brewing that potion this year. It was only mentioned because they were going to make a different sleeping potion and they had mentioned some of the differences. _'That's really obscure knowledge,'_ Journey thought as she watched Harry look back at Professor Snape while thinking of his answer, _'I'll need to remember that he like's asking hard questions for when we have to study for exams.'_

"A sleeping potion, Professor," Harry said quietly even though his amazing memory recall almost ensured he would be right once he found the information he was looking for. Beside him, bushy-haired Hermione sat down dejectedly from where she had almost standing up to get the professor to notice her, making Journey smirk.

Professor Snape raised an eyebrow. "Called?" he prompted.

Without his early hesitation Harry replied, "The Draught of the Living Death." His earlier success seemed to have given him a boost in confidence since Harry's voice was much louder and more assured than before.

There was a pause while Professor Snape's eyes seemed to bore into Harry's. After several long moments, Professor Snape looked away sharply and rounded on his next victim.

"Patil! Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

This one was harder for Journey to remember, even though she felt she should know the answer. She felt annoyed when Hermione's hand shot into the air again. _'If she can know the answer, so can I.'_ Journey thought determinedly. _'Bezoar, bezoar, bezoar… not a plant I'm pretty sure. Must be something living since I don't think there's any potions with rocks or minerals in them…was mentioned in the introduction of 'An Idiot's Guide to Potions', it said everyone making potions, especially poisons, should have a bezoar on hand because…because…because bezoars save you from poisons!'_ The rest of the knowledge she knew about bezoars clicked into place, leaving Journey feel almost smug.

"I don't know, Professor," Parvati Patil, a small girl with dark hair who had a twin in Ravenclaw, said softly.

Professor Snape sneered at her. "Pity," he said without emotion.

Professor Snape tried one more person, Ron. "Weasley, tell me the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane."

'_Trick question,'_ Journey though. She had read that bit of information only a few days ago so Journey knew they were the same plant but from the way Ron was stuttering, he clearly didn't. After a few attempts he got angry and said, "I don't know, but Hermione does," and from the way she was bouncing up and down in her seat with her hand up, Journey figured that she probably did, "Why don't you try her?"

Journey knew that was a mistake. Most teachers didn't take sarcasm very well (not that she never gave it herself) but there were some teachers you just didn't mess with.

Professor Snape was one of those teachers.

A sneer curled its way onto Professor Snape amid the giggles of the class. "Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. Immediately, Hermione sat down and the class went silent. "For you information, Weasley and Patil, a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down? Also write down Potter's answer, it was acceptable."

As soon as Professor Snape had finished speaking, the was a sudden rush of movement uniform to everyone in the class as they tried to grab their quills and parchment fast enough so that they too would not be call out. Journey pulled out her green, spiral bound notebook and several different coloured pens and a pencil. She was writing down the date when Professor Snape spoke again.

"And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Weasley."

Journey hoped that Ron wouldn't argue the point loss. Looking over at him, Journey saw that although Ron looked upset by the announcement, he surprisingly didn't try to argue it. Journey wondered why but then figured that one of his brothers had probably warned him about Snape.

While they were writing down their notes, Professor Snape took attendance. It brought Journey's earlier weird feeling back to the forefront of her mind, but she wasn't sure why.

Every time Professor Snape called out a name, he would look up from his list and survey the class for who he had answered. For a few seconds, he would stare at the student, as if analyzing them. Some students, mostly Gryffindors, Snape would look at like he wanted to use as a potions ingredient and others, all Slytherins, he would look at in a variation of calm indifference to slightly, just slightly, pleased.

Journey's first indication to the fact that something weird was going on was when Professor Snape got to Harry's name. "Ah, yes," Professor Snape said quietly making Journey, and the rest of the class, look up, "Harry Potter. Our new – _celebrity_."

Journey watched as Harry flushed from the way Professor Snape almost sneered the word, making Draco and his cronies snigger quietly. He seemed to glare at Harry before moving onto her name.

"Journey Potter." He said quickly, like he already wanted to move on.

Journey put her hand up quietly, not daring to risk saying 'present'. Professor Snape's eyes snapped to where she was before he looked away quickly and called out the next name. In that brief second, Journey thought she saw something behind those normally emotionless black eyes, but she wasn't sure.

Journey frowned. _'Why did he skip over me?'_ Journey wondered, _'I know that's what I was going for but it doesn't usually work _that_ good.'_ Journey stopped writing and closed her eyes, trying to see if she could use her ability to _know_ things to figure out something about the Potions Master. To her great frustration, it was exactly like the Welcoming Feast. It was like he wasn't even there. Journey tried harder, focusing her mind and her magic. Surprisingly, Journey could feel her magic react, however it felt different from all of her previous attempts at magic. If her magic normally felt like flowing energy that seemed almost a cross between watery and fiery, this would be the cross between being smoky or cloud-like. It passed through her body and went into her mind, making Journey see flashes in her mind of many different things so fast she couldn't even keep up. After a few seconds, Journey refocused herself and pushed her thoughts back to her task, promising to think about this strange phenomenon later. The magic drifted from her mind with little resistance and flew into the open air where Journey struggled to keep a hold of it. Journey couldn't see where the magic was, but she could sense when the smoky-cloud touched Professor Snape.

Unfortunately, so could Professor Snape.

The instant her magic made contact with Professor Snape, he whirled around from where he was writing instructions on the board. His eyes quickly scanned the class as Professor Snape looked for the source of the strange magic. Afraid, Journey quickly broke her concentration on her magic, feeling as it dissipated around her instantly. Not a moment too soon since the next moment, Professor Snape looked directly into Journey's eyes.

Professor Snape started at Journey for a few seconds before she felt something strange. It was similar to the 'tickle' Journey had felt when she put on the Sorting Hat but felt more like a gentle push than a tickle. The sensation gave Journey a mild headache so she mentally tried to push back at it. Journey could that the force she exerted was probably comparable to that of a young child trying to shove an adult, but she couldn't bring herself to care since her headache had worsened from the effort. _'Not trying that again anytime soon,'_ Journey thought as she rubbed her temple.

The pushing against her mind instantly stopped and across the room, Professor Snape's eyes widened. Almost immediately, Journey felt her headache vanish, much to her relief.

'_What was that all about?'_ Journey thought feeling slightly dazed.

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**amethystdreamstar: Don't kill me! I'm sorry to all of my readers for making you wait so long for a chapter. University was so much more work than I thought it would be the I've barely had any time to write. I tried to punch this out over Christmas break but I had to visit with a whole bunch of family and close friends since I had been away for 4 months. I know how crummy it is to wait forever for authors to update and I'm really, **_**really**_** sorry. I can't write a chapter per week since I have finals looming on the horizon but I will work on the next chapter during that time.**

**I want to thank Derflinger and MarkerBarker78 and the anonymous reviewer from my last chapter. Reviews inspire me, and that's really what made me get started on working on this chapter again.**

**Derflinger: I didn't expect to see in Slytherin either, it was a last minute thing I assure you :P I'll try my best not to make Journey a Mary-Sue, but I think it is important to note that children with poor upbringing do mature faster because of the need to take care of themselves. Journey has not only herself to take care of, but she also feels responsible for Harry so I think that would make her a bit of a thinker. I know that makes her no psychologist but cross the line between mature and super-crazy-impossibly-smart :P I don't intend to give them many gifts. Most of their gifts are based solely on their control and sensitivity to their magic. There won't be an endless amount of 'superpowers' and I'll try my hardest not to forget any of them (I wrote a list :P)**

**MarkerBarker78: what can I say, I'm full of twists and turns :P Journey won't progress into her full ability for quite some time. To be honest I didn't even think changing to Harry's POV but you're right that would've been a great time to switch. Journey is not better than Snape at Occlumency, she just has a natural gift for it that (I think) goes hand-and-hand with being able to see the future (or at least it should, can't have everyone knowing the future). Most of the stuff you mentioned happens way too far in the future for me to even think about right now, but you did raise many thought-inspiring questions, thanks :) Harry isn't perfect at wandless magic, I'm sorry if I gave that impression. He and Journey can only do a few, first year level spells, along with a few other things like summoning, the fire, etc.**

**About this chapter: I tried to capture both Harry's and Journey's insecurities and fears of being thrust into a new world, especially without the constant support of their ever-present twin. Harry's naïveté in believing Journey knows everything is just that and Journey is only able to speak so 'psychologically' to Harry because she had just went through a very similar experience only a few days before. Slytherin politics is going to play very nicely into my story, I'm going to take some liberties with fandom and add some things that hopefully will be unique. (not crazy-out-there though).**

**I'll try to push out the next chapter as fast as I can but it will be difficult. I don't have anyone to bounce ideas off of or to keep me on track to make sure that I don't do anything stupid. (Any volunteers? :P)**

**Please Review :)**


	8. Chapter 8: The Most Slytherin

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Everything that is underlined is taken directly from the book.**

"talking"

'_thought'_

**'**_**written words'**_

**Chapter 8**

**The Most Slytherin of Slytherins**

Severus stared wide-eyed at his smallest Slytherin for a brief moment before turning back to the blackboard to finish writing the instructions. _'How could she possibly know any Occlumency?'_ Severus wondered as he wrote down the last line. _'She has been living with Muggles her whole life, and she could not have learnt Occlumency in a month at her age… I guess I have the answer to who's magic I felt… The question I should be asking is how…'_

Deciding to ponder this new development when he was alone, Severus began to pace the classroom, watching the first years brew their first potions. It would not be acceptable for him to allow an accident to happen simply because one girl had done something out of the ordinary.

'_Of course,'_ Severus sneered as he passed Neville Longbottom's off-coloured potion and Ronald Weasley's moulting one, _'these idiots could have read the instructions a thousand times and still messed it up.'_

Severus finally found a decent potion when he got to his godson's table. Draco had been brewing potions for over a year now, with Severus himself as a tutor. Severus expected nothing less than the near perfect potion that Draco was concocting. He praised Draco's potion, trying subtly to get the other students to see how technique was everything to brewing potions. He may have been overdoing the praise just a bit, but he knew that Draco would be reporting back to his father so he had to make a good first impression as a teacher.

Severus was just in the middle of his explanation when Longbottom decided to melt his cauldron. He saw the smoke and knew immediately what the boy had done.

"Idiot boy!" Severus snarled. _'Can you not see how dangerous your mistake was? You were lucky the reaction was not explosive!' _Severus thought viciously. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking your cauldron off the fire!"

There was more Severus wanted to say, but he knew he couldn't. Too many of his Slytherin students in this year were sons or daughters of prominent Death Eaters. If he actually showed concern for the Gryffindors, or any student that wasn't a Slytherin, his position as a spy – and very likely his life – would be forfeit. His only method to try and teach the dunderheads of the class anything was through cruel methods. Not that his normal teaching style would have been much different, he hated idiots like Longbottom, but he would have been a tiny bit nicer to a first year student who had just melted a cauldron to the point where it was unrecognizable and injured himself in the process.

Longbottom's condition started to get worse. Boils were starting to appear all over his nose and the boy was whimpering. _'Surely it has been long enough,'_ Severus thought. Turning to Finnegan, who looked like his cauldron was going to be the next worse potion, Severus barked at him to take Longbottom to the hospital wing.

Out of the corner of his eye, Severus saw Potter closely examining his potion from his spot next to Longbottom's. Assuming the worse, as one does with a spawn of James Potter, Severus automatically assumed it was a set up.

"You Potter, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point Gryffindor has lost." Severus said smoothly.

As soon as he said it, Severus knew he'd misjudged the situation. The look of pure shock and righteous indignation on Potter's face could not have been faked even by James Potter himself. Even though he felt slightly guilty, Severus knew he could not take it back. He turned away before the boy could argue, not wanting to have to dock further points just this once. He heard a minute thud and a whisper from Weasley, but decided to let it go for once. After all, Weasley spoke the truth, he could get a little nasty.

The rest of the class passed quickly. No one was keen to mess up after the episode with Longbottom, so most of the potions turned out rather well for first years. Severus refused to look at the youngest Potter's potion. She already looked so much like… _her_, he couldn't bear it if she had her talent or passion in potions as well. The one thing they had shared before he ruined everything…

Severus knew the girl was suspicious of something. He had felt her gaze on him occasionally. Her magic didn't connect with him again, and for that Severus was grateful. Severus wouldn't be able to bear staring into _her_ face or _her_ eyes again.

At the end of the class, all of the students placed their samples on the desk before filing out, one by one. Draco was the first to finish, followed by Lilith Moon. Following them was Granger and Daphne Greengrass. Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini finished several minutes after them and Severus stopped following who was handing in which potion after that. The first 5 or 6 to hand in the first potions were almost always the best potion brewers. The rest would likely never make it to NEWT level potions without lots of help.

Finally, the door slammed shut for a final time as the last two Gryffindors, Brown and Patil, walked out. Severus stalked over to his desk, wanting to review all of samples before heading to lunch. He had very little marking to do so Severus wanted to finish marking these potions quickly, enabling him to spend a rare weekend in peace.

As he suspected, the first 6 students who had handed in their potions had decent to amazing results. The only potion that was really amazing was Draco's, but that was to be expected. The colour was slightly off, it was a burgundy colour when it should have been a reddish-brown, and it was slightly more fluid than it should have been, but it was still excellent. The other five were all acceptable, even the know-it-all Granger's, but not quite O level just yet.

'_I guess I know who I'm having in the advanced potions group this year,'_ Severus thought as he observed Blaise Zabini's potion. Every year, Severus held private potion-brewing sessions that Slytherin students from first and second year came to by invitation only. He only offered it to students he felt had a talent in potions and would take it in their NEWT level. They didn't learn that many advanced potions, he mostly just taught them the basics and advanced knowledge on different ingredients, cutting and stirring styles, and pretty much everything else that came to making a potion. He offered it again to fifth through seventh years, but on a much more advanced level with much more actual potions making. He knew that his snakes were often treated unfairly by the rest of the school, so he wanted to give them every advantage they could get.

Ignoring the hypocrisy of his thoughts, Severus began to look at the other dismal potions one by one. Most received a T or a P grade, but there were a few A's as well. Steadily, each potion began to get worse in quality. Severus refused to acknowledge the part inside of him that wished the youngest Potter could have her mother's talent at potions.

Severus paused when he came to another decent potion. The non-existent excitement he had felt died when he saw it was Harry Potter's, not Journey Potter's, potion. He gave it an 'A' absentmindedly since he knew that Potter's was better than Grangers and she got an 'A'. Severus did not feel like dealing with Minerva this early in the term. Moving on to the next potion, Severus nearly dropped it when he looked at the sample.

The potion was definitely not at the same level of Draco Malfoy's, but the potion was undeniably better than the rest of the potions on his desk (he refused to acknowledge the other Potter's potion being of only slightly less than the same calibre). Severus almost smiled when he realized that Journey had indeed inherited her mother's talent.

"What have you got there, Professor Snape?"

Severus looked up sharply, not having heard the door open. Leaning against the desks in the front row, stood a tall, well-built young man with dark brown hair and unnerving, aqua-blue eyes. His pale skin did not tint red, nor did his gaze falter under Severus' penetrating stare. In fact, he seemed amused by it.

Annoyed, Severus answered his question with a question. "What do you want, Selwyn?"

Jason Selwyn smirked back at him and said casually, "Just wondering if there was anything interesting about this batch of first years, that's all."

Severus raised an eyebrow at him. All of the Slytherins knew that this group of first years had a lot of potential and that 'interesting', hardly covered the topic. Almost every single child was a son or heir to a powerful family that had served under the Dark Lord, or were the scion of a family that had a lot of political clout but had remained neutral in the last war.

"I'm not sure how this concerns you, Selwyn," Severus said in a calculated voice.

Selwyn let out a small chuckle. "I'm just curious, that's all." With that, he pushed himself off the desk and looked closer at the potion in Severus' hand. "Normally when you're this far into marking potions, there aren't any good ones left."

Selwyn was not being subtle as he fished for information, but Severus was too interested with what Selwyn was going to do with the information Severus was going to give him. The Selwyn family were rumoured to be a branch of the Slytherin family, making them a very prominent family in Pureblood society. They largely remained neutral in all affairs but still had much political sway in almost every single area of the Wizarding world. The entire family was notorious for sticking to themselves and tended not to socialize with many people unless they felt you were worth their time, especially while they attended Hogwarts. _'Why is one of the Selwyn's suddenly showing interest,'_ Severus thought as he debated what to say.

With more reluctance than he actually felt, Severus answered the question Selwyn had first asked. "This potion was brewed by Miss Potter. She seems to have inherited her mother's talent in potions."

Selwyn looked contemplative as Severus watched him out of the corner of his eye while he marked the rest of the potions. There were no more surprises, so the rest of the marking went quickly for Severus.

"She's going to get eaten alive in Slytherin," Selwyn said suddenly.

Severus slowly arched an eyebrow. "Explain."

"Her brother is the Boy Who Lived, probable Gryffindor Golden boy and likely to be favoured by Dumbledore. Journey Potter has already been seen sitting with the Gryffindors for dinner, which hasn't made her very popular with those who saw it. Soon it will be common knowledge and if she does it very often, Slytherins will either ostracize her or try to 'fix' her to be a proper Slytherin…"

Selwyn trailed off and Severus was painfully reminded of his own years at Hogwarts. He had experienced both techniques for being friends with Lily. It was the reason he had snapped at Lily in the end. Severus could not deal with the constant harassing from the Marauders and the constant 'Slytherin' propaganda being forced at him, among other things the Slytherins of his day did to 'fix' him. The word he had sworn to never used had just slipped out in a moment of weakness, causing him to lose the one person in his life that meant the world to him.

"Indeed," Severus said quietly, his mind still lost as he tortured himself with thoughts of that fateful day.

"Something is off about her." Selwyn said quietly, "She's already avoided a few pranked food items. Deliberately. She also punched Draco Malfoy in the face with enough force to almost shatter his nose when we were on the train ride."

Severus' blank mask showed none of the shock he felt. _'It seems that the youngest Potter is similar to her mother not just in school…'_

"Are you certain?" Severus asked, prodding for information.

The smirk on Selwyn's face showed Severus that Selwyn was much better at this game than Severus believed him to be.

"Of course," Selwyn drawled. He waited a few more moments, silently gloating in the fact that he knew something that the head of the house of cunning did not. "I was in the compartment when Draco burst in, nearly in tears, almost begging the oldest Nott to fix his nose. We had to drag the information out of him as to who actually did it. He's been avoiding the girl Potter since then."

Severus thought back over the first week of term while he put the marked potions in the cabinet labeled '_**First Years**_'. He had noticed that Draco Malfoy had indeed taken the instruction of his father and 'befriended' the spawn of Crabbe and Goyle. He couldn't recall seeing the red-haired Potter anywhere near Lucius' son, but that could easily have been because he rarely, if ever, sought torture himself by looking at the girl who looked almost identical to _her_.

Severus turned back to Selwyn as something occurred to him. "I have indeed noticed something is, as you say, 'off' about Miss Potter. I believe she knows something of the mind arts. Why did you bring this to my attention?"

The smirk swiftly left Selwyn's face and changed into one of shock briefly before quickly fading to contemplation. It was a well-known fact among Slytherins that their Head of House was rather talented in various kinds of mental magic, especially Legimency. This fact alone would be enough for Selwyn to realize that Severus had likely skimmed her mind, but found some form of barriers or something of that nature, almost unheard of in first years. Severus could almost see the thoughts and ideas flying around in Selwyn's mind, though he couldn't distinguish what they were.

"She has so much potential," Selwyn whispered, so softly Severus had to strain his ears to catch the words. Then as quickly as it vanished, Selwyn's smirk reappeared. He gave a respectful nod to Severus while wishing farewell before turning on his heel and striding out of the room, leaving Severus feel as if he just missed something of great importance.

Not wanting the accompanying headache from trying to figure out why Selwyn was so strange, Severus followed the path out of the classroom that the fifth year Slytherin had just walked.

As Severus walked to the Great Hall to join the rest of Hogwarts for lunch, a thought occurred to him. _'The Potter brats are going to going to create more havoc and headaches than their swine of a father ever could…'_

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Lunch had passed without any incident for Severus who felt it ended far too quickly for his liking. After lunch, Severus finished marking the remaining of the second years' summer assignments. They were largely inadequate, besides his Slytherins of course. His snakes knew better than to perform badly in his class.

Time flew by while Severus was marking assignments and before he knew it, it was time for dinner. Being the first Friday of the term, it also meant that it was the first of far too many (in Severus' opinion) staff meetings of the year.

'_I just hope Irma___**(1)**_ and Hagrid will be able to keep the students in line this year,'_ Severus thought as he made his way to the staff room,_ 'Merlin knows Argus will be no help.'_

Severus made sure to arrive just before the meeting was about to start. He hated mindless chatter, yet his colleagues, especially his former professors, never lost an opportunity to try and drag him into their pointless conversations.

Sweeping quietly into the room, Severus strode confidently into the chair reserved for the Slytherin Head of House. It was next to Filius' and across from Minvera's, leaving Pomona to sit across from Filius. The Headmaster's chair was facing the long table between Filius and Pomona, leaving the rest of the teachers to fill out along the table down from Severus and Minerva. Not that many people would willingly sit next to Severus. The only person who would sit next to Severus was Septima Vector, the Arithmancy professor. She was a fiery young woman with black hair, violet eyes and a sharp tongue. She was unfazed by the remarks Severus sent her way, and often sent quite a few of her own in response.

"Septima," Severus said with a curt nod as he sat down.

"Severus." She returned in kind. They were not 'friends', but they did have respect for each other.

At that moment, Albus walked in and all conversation ceased. He was wearing ridiculous canary yellow robes that had purple stars on them with a matching Wizard's hat. The sight made a sneer form on Severus' face.

"Good evening everyone," Albus said jovially as he sat down. "How has the first week back been for everyone? I trust your summers were well?"

Murmurs were heard up and down the table along with a few 'yes's', but Severus remained silent. _'Can we just get on with it,'_ Severus thought tiredly only barely held himself back from saying his thoughts aloud. Severus wanted nothing more to get back to his chambers and maybe have some brandy while he read a book in front of his fireplace.

"Good, good," Albus said happily with a grandfatherly smile on his face. They talked for the next while about several different topics such as how many students were taking each elective in third year, the assignments that were handed in over the summer and how the promising and struggling upper years were doing. Severus contributed very little to the conversation, speaking only when he was asked a direct question. He didn't see the point for having these meaningless discussions, Albus and each Head of House had a copy of all the classlists and it was the Head of House's responsibility to look after their own students, not anyone else's.

"The first years are looking pretty promising this year," Minerva said almost smugly. Severus knew there had been a bet as to where many students would end up, including the Potter brat. Minerva had not partaken in any of the betting, but that did not mean she did not voice who she thought would end up in which house. Usually she was right, and Severus was sure she wanted to brag about how the boy ended up in your house.

"If you are talking about Potter," Severus drawled, bringing the entire table's attention to him, "you are mistaken. He could barely answer the question I asked at the beginning of class this morning. The rest of your Gryffindors were no better. Longbottom even melted his cauldron and nearly submerged himself in it. I had to send him to the hospital wing."

Minerva frowned. "I was not speaking about Mr. Potter when I said that there was potential in the first years, not that he was not included in that statement. And Severus really, every year you ask the first years questions they haven't even a hope of answering. If Potter actually managed to answer one of your questions, even barely as you say, I'd say that's pretty impressive. I heard about the incident with Mr. Longbottom and went to see him. He is fine now in case you were wondering."

Severus sneered. "A Muggleborn knew the answer to all of my questions, she was quite intent on showing me she that she was a know-it-all. The girl couldn't even sit in her seat to answer a question. Clearly Potter has no great skill if a Muggleborn could answer the question after knowing of the Wizarding World for only a month."

"If the Muggleborn was Miss Granger," Filius cut in happily, "then it is no surprise she knew the answer. She was the first, and sometimes the only, person to raise her hand in response to the questions I asked her class. She knew more than most of my Ravenclaws even!"

Pomona nodded. "Her knowledge extends to my subject as well. Her practical ability will always be limited, but there is no denying that she has quite the intellect. Now Mr. Longbottom on the other hand, he appears to have a true green thumb! I don't think I've ever seen a first year have such a natural talent for Herbology!"

Severus gave another sneer. _'It's hard to believe Longbottom could be good at anything,'_ Severus thought to himself. He refrained from voicing his thoughts aloud as Minerva had also chosen to comment on Granger's academic prowess.

"Miss Granger is also quite talented in my class. She knew all the theory needed for her lessons and even had knowledge on a few topics that won't be covered until next year. Her practical was above average as well, she made more changes to her needle than most first years make after a week of practice."

'_Of course, Minerva is already picking out her favourites,' _Severus thought angrily, _'and as always, she does not spare a second glance for my snakes.'_

"Miss Granger's skill in Transfiguration is not the best in her year, however. In fact, I have to say the best student for Transfiguration is one of your students, Severus," Minerva gave a nod in Severus' direction to the shock of the entire table. "It seems that Miss Potter is even more talented than her father in his own field, and James Potter was one of the best I'd ever seen whenever he put his mind to his studies instead of his pranks. Her brother is not as talented but is probably more talented than Miss Granger as well. It was difficult to tell during the first class since Mr. Potter looked very distracted. I was going to call him out on his behaviour when I realized that he also looked very upset about something, which was likely causing his lack of attention."

Severus was about to comment when Albus surprisingly spoke up.

"Mr. Potter performed well magically?" Albus asked Minerva in an interested manner. Something about the way the headmaster spoke set Severus on edge. It didn't take Severus long to realize that it was because Albus had only comment on the Potter brat, having said barely anything about anything or anyone since the beginning of the meeting.

Minerva seemed to have caught on as well, which surprised Severus. Normally, the Head of Gryffindor went along with whatever the headmaster wanted, even if she didn't agree with it. Even rarer events were when the Scottish Witch realized Albus was up to his games and decided to go against them. Right now seemed to be one of those times.

"Yes, Mr. Potter performed well considering he looked quite upset," Minerva huffed, "His sister was also quite talented along with several other students in my class, one of them being Miss Granger."

Minerva looked like she was going to continue when Albus cut her off. "I had not meant to disregard the other students. I love hearing about how they are progressing, I just get to interact with them very little and as such, I do not have much to contribute to your conversations of the promising futures that lie ahead for many of our school. I must confess, I was worried for Mr. Potter's magical ability as no one has ever survived the Killing Curse and I was worried it might have affected his Magical Core."

Many of the professors were convinced by Albus' speech, but Severus was not among them. The response was much too elegant, too calculated. It was exactly the right response to say to Minerva's subtle accusations with just enough embellishment to add 'sincerity'. Severus had served under two different masters throughout his lifetime, one of whom was sitting just two seats away from him. Severus knew all of their tricks and while both fought on different sides of the war, none could deny that in some ways the leaders of light and dark had many similarities, such as their ability to sway a crowd.

Looking across the table, Severus realized from the purse of her lips and her narrowed eyes that Minerva was not fooled either, which surprised him. The look faded quickly, but not quickly enough to prevent Severus from looking at Minerva in a new light. _'I believe,'_ Severus said with a side glance at Albus who was oblivious to Minerva's displeasure, _'That Minerva is much more aware of Albus' schemes than she has ever admitted to anyone…herself included.'_

The sigh from Filius and Pomona's fidgeting indicated that they too, knew what was going on and were not happy with it. Even though talk moved on from the Potters and onto other subjects, Severus knew something had been set in motion, something powerful. And it was all because of Journey Potter. No one would have spared a second glance if Albus had asked about Harry while they were talking about a Muggleborn, even if it was Granger. By asking about Potter's magic, especially after Minerva had been praising the other twin and had said the boy looked upset, he had accidentally shown (to those who understood such talks) that he cared more about the magical state of the Boy Who Lived than his emotional one, and that he favoured this one student above all others.

'_If Albus has ever made a mistake,' _Severus thought as the other professors nattered on about various subjects, _'it was this one. Their father would be so proud, they already have the attention of the entire school, staff included. Albus had better be careful, any more mistakes and this attention could shed light to the Wizarding World that he is not as 'pure' and 'benevolent' as they would like to believe…'_

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

Journey's head ached slightly as she walked down to Hagrid's hut with Harry and Ron. Her head had been hurting slightly since the beginning of Potions class, which was Journey's only indicator that she hadn't imagined the whole thing between her and Professor Snape. Journey had finished her potion fairly quickly, as had Harry, but they had agreed with a look to wait for Ron, who was struggling with the final steps, before they went to lunch since they had planned to head to Hagrid's after. It had been incredibly nerve racking for Journey to stay in the same room as Professor Snape, she was afraid that the professor might try that strange magic against her mind again. Journey had no idea what that magic was, or how she had been able to use it in the first place, and even though she would never admit it to anyone besides Harry, she was slightly scared.

The three first years finally arrive at Hagrid's hut. It was on the smaller side, made completely of wood and sat on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry knocked on the door and they heard a dog barking from within. They heard Hagrid trying to control the dog, apparently named 'Fang' and told the three of them to wait a few moments.

While she waited, Journey looked over at the Forbidden Forest. In the daylight it didn't look so bad, but Journey knew that it had to be forbidden for a reason. Journey was naturally very, _very_ curious, and being told she couldn't do something or go somewhere always made her want it more. Harry always said that she was going to get hurt someday because of her curiosity, Journey always responded that while she may get hurt, at least she would have figured out why they weren't allowed in the first place.

At the Dursleys, Journey's curiosity wasn't all that dangerous depending on who she talked to. All she had ever wanted to know where things that most kids would want to know. Who were her parents? What were they like? Why did Dudley get better things than her and Harry? Why was she a freak? _'Okay,'_ Journey thought with a smirk, _'most kids would definitely not be asking those questions ever… but if they were in my shoes they definitely would be.'_ The only bad thing that came out of Journey's curiosity were extended trips to the cupboard, cutbacks on food for a while and extra chores. Nothing too bad.

At Hogwarts, Journey knew that her curiosity would get her into much more trouble that less food for a week. As the headmaster had so eloquently put it on her first night here, trying to sate her curiosity about certain things, such as the Forbidden Forest or the third floor corridor, could result in dying a painful death.

Thinking about her first night here made Journey think about who Professor Dumbledore had directed his words to when he spoke about the Forbidden Forest. _'Seems like I'll need to ask Ron about his brothers at some point…'_ Journey thought as Hagrid opened the door and let the three first years inside while holding back his huge black boarhound Fang.

The inside of the hut was uniquely Hagrid. There was only one room, housing a lit fireplace with a copper kettle boiling on it against one wall, and Hagrid's bed against another. Different types of meat and poultry were hanging from the ceiling and a large table took up the majority of the centre of the room.

"Make yerselves at home," Hagrid said as he let go of Fang. The dog bounded over to Journey and sniffed her hand. Journey smiled at the dog and gave him a scratch behind the ears, causing Fang to close his eyes happily and let his tongue roll out. After a few moments of giving Fang attention, Journey went to go sit down at the table and Fang bounded off towards Ron, much to the male redhead's dismay.

"This is Ron," Harry introduced as Hagrid started setting out tea and rock cakes. Getting a closer look at the cakes, Journey quickly recoiled. '_They look like real rocks,'_ Journey thought apprehensively. Journey quickly decided that she would politely decline eating any if offered.

"Another Weasley, eh?" Hagrid asked, as he seemed to study Ron's face, mainly his freckles, "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."

Journey smirked. _'Looks like my suspicions about the Weasley twins were right... now I just have to figure out how I'm going to convince them to tell me what's in the forest.'_

Journey watched, amused, as Harry and Ron attempted to eat the rock cakes. When Hagrid had offered her some, Journey could see Harry out of the corner of her eye rubbing his jaw and sweetly told Hagrid that she was full from lunch.

The three first years told Hagrid all about their first week of classes. Fang had abandoned Ron and was no drooling all over Harry instead, making Journey giggle at the sight. All three were delighted to hear how Hagrid didn't like Mr. Filch or Mrs Norris.

Things go really interesting when Harry told Hagrid about Professor Snape and their first Potions class. Hagrid tried to brush off Harry's concerns, but Harry was persistant.

"But he seemed to really _hate_ me." Harry said earnestly.

Hagrid denied Harry's claims, but both of the Potter twins noticed that Hagrid wouldn't meet Harry's eyes when he told Harry Snape didn't hate him.

Obviously wanting to change the subject, Hagrid quickly asked Ron about one of his older brothers, Charlie, who was apparently very good with animals. Journey listened earnestly when she learned the Charlie worked with dragons, real live, flying, fire-breathing dragons but was cut off when she felt Harry tugging at her sleeve holding a clipping from the Daily Prophet in his hand.

Journey quickly read the article, eyes widening when she realised that the supposedly 'impenetrable' Gringotts had been broken into. One line stuck out to Journey the most. **The vault that was searched had been emptied the same day**. It was too much of a coincidence that the vault that had the attempted robbery had been emptied that very same day. Obviously whatever was in that vault was extremely valuable, and probably dangerous.

"Hagrid" Harry said suddenly, "That Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"

Journey's eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. '_How did I miss that?'_ Journey asked herself as she reread the article. Sure enough the first line stated that the break-in happened on the 31st of July, Harry's birthday and the same day she, Harry and Hagrid went Gringotts.

It all clicked for Journey the second Hagrid didn't meet Harry or Journey's eyes. _'We went with Hagrid who had 'Hogwarts business','_ Journey thought as she shared a look with Harry, _'we stopped at… seven hundred and thirteen! Hagrid 'emptied' the vault… well it had been almost empty anyways. whatever was in that package must've been worth a fortune…_ _I think this is what 'big things come in small packages' means…' _Harry gave her a small nod and Journey knew he was thinking along the same lines as her.

Journey could tell that Ron was oblivious to the thoughts swirling around the Potter twins' brains as they walked back to the castle. A new curiosity had taken root within Journey: she wanted to know what was in that package from vault seven hundred and thirteen. From the distant look in Harry's eyes, Journey could see that Harry shared her curiosity for the mystery.

At that moment, Journey felt something begin to stir within her. A _feeling_, unique to anything she had ever felt before, was building within her chest. The _feeling_ was so strong, Journey didn't know what to make of it. Emotions swirled within her, reacting to the _feeling_. Fear, excitement, absolute terror, confusion, and anger warred inside of Journey and they didn't make sense to her whatsoever. For a brief moment, Journey could not see the castle and its grounds around her. Instead Journey saw the scene from her dream earlier this week, fire surrounded her and she could barely hear an eerie, hi-pitched laugh above the roar of the flames. Journey froze in fear and confusion but as fast as it happened, the scene vanished and she was back on the Grounds.

"What's wrong Journey?" Harry asked when he had noticed she had stopped walking.

Journey knew that he had likely felt an echo of what she had been feeling, especially when she had seen the fire around her. Trying to shake it off, Journey gave Harry a smile and shook her head to say that it was alright. Harry nodded, but Journey knew that he could see the emotions still swirling around in Journey's eyes… especially the fear.

"It's nothing," Journey said softly, but deep down she knew, she _knew_, that that package was going to be dangerous to Harry and her, and she _needed_ to know what it was before anything bad happened because of it…

**JPHPJPHPJPHPJPHPJPHP**

Later that evening, Journey found herself sitting with the rest of the Slytherins inside their Common Room. Journey stood with her group of friends near the back of the room since the upper years always got the better seats.

There were a lot of politics in Slytherin that Journey didn't really understand. It was like entering a game right in the middle when you didn't really know the rules to begin with. There were unwritten rules about where your place was in the Common Room or the table in the Great Hall. There were rules about speaking to your peers and different rules for speaking to upper years, and even people on the Quidditch team. There were even rules about who got to use the showers first in the morning and the evening if there were five people using four showers.

Every single person had their own 'rank', both within their year and in the Slytherin House as a whole. First years always started at the bottom with regards to house rank, with second years slightly above them but being under third years and so own. Depending on a person's rank within the house, they received certain privileges and could assign their own punishments to people who didn't respect them or their position enough. Ranks within years worked by a similar process but were less extreme in the case that no punishments other than embarrassment could be given to someone who challenges you for a year rank.

There were only two ways a person could change their rank other than moving up a year. The first way was to challenge someone for their rank. Sometimes, the challenges were obvious even to Journey like in the case of a duel. Other times, it was just an exchange of loaded words with multiple meanings and whoever won got the better rank. If the challenger lost, he could also be punished by the one he challenged since he or she was of higher rank. Usually, the punishment was just further embarrassment for losing, but some of the Slytherins could be really nasty to those who challenged them.

The other way a person could improve their rank, mostly just within their own year, was by doing really well academically. Academics couldn't raise your rank a whole lot, but it could improve your position at least a bit since Slytherin values ambition. The flip side to this method was to be really good at earning House points while having other Houses loose them. Both were way more subtle ways to gain rank, it took Journey the whole week to even recognize them.

By far, the easiest way to instantly gain rank was to join the Quidditch team. It helped if you were good, but even just being on the team instantly made you jump in House rankings. Even if you were only on the reserve team, Quidditch was so respected in Slytherin house that you'd instantly be the top rank in you year if no one else in your year was on the team. While this method to gain rank was the quickest, it was also the hardest since there were only seven players on the team plus a few reserves. It was also impossible for first years to join the team so Journey never really thought about Quidditch that much.

Journey had no idea what her rank was, within her year or as part of the House but she figured she was somewhere near the bottom by the looks the older Slytherins gave her. Journey tried to stay out of the way of the upper years and not eat any foods that she had a bad _feeling_ about, but Journey also had a _feeling_ that they would confront her eventually. Until that time, the most Journey could do was try and learn the rules of the game as fast as she could by observation without making a fool of herself.

The entire Slytherin House was sitting almost silently in the Common Room and seemed to be waiting for something, but Journey had no idea what it was. It took Journey a while to remember that Daphne had told her that there was going to be a mandatory house meeting today. Journey also remembered that she was an outsider in the Slytherin House, and straightened her back slightly so that she stood with a bit more sophistication. Out of the corner of her eye, Journey thought she saw a tall boy in a dark corner of the room nod at her approvingly, but she couldn't be sure.

At that moment, the door to the Common Room opened to reveal none other than Professor Snape, the Slytherin Head of House. All conversation amongst the Slytherins immediately ceased out of respect for their Head of House as Professor Snape strode confidently into the room with his black robes billowing out menacingly behind him.

All the other Houses thought that Professor Snape favoured his snakes, and he did… kinda. When in front of the school, Professor Snape always supported his House in accordance to one of the many unwritten rules of Slytherin: Slytherins stick together. In the privacy of the snake's nest however, Professor Snape could be even more ferocious to his own House than he was with the others if a student pissed him off enough. Such occurrences were rare since everyone knew by the end of the first day to _never_ piss off Professor Snape unless you had a death wish.

Professor Snape reached the fireplace situated at the center of the largest wall before he slowly turned around to face his students. The flickering light of the flames behind him lit the professor's face in an eerie way by casting ever moving shadows onto his face where the light couldn't reach.

"Good evening," Professor Snape said in a slow, cool voice. "I hope everyone's first week back at Hogwarts has been… adequate."

A few of the upper years murmured their confirmations, but no student under third year dared utter a word in the presence of their professor.

After the muttering had stopped, Professor Snape continued speaking. "First years, I would like to formally welcome you to the Slytherin House where I am not only your teacher, but the man in charge of all of you until you graduate Hogwarts. If you ever need to speak with me, I am usually in my office when not running a class and I will be able to discuss any _meaningful_ problem you may have. Do not come to me with trivialities, or I will be most… _displeased_."

Journey was properly intimidated after that introductory speech. Around her, most of the others looked intimidated as well but were hiding it to varying degrees of effectiveness. Realizing that Slytherins likely viewed emotion as a weakness, Journey fixed her face into a bored expression as best she could. Journey was used to changing her facial expression, but that was usually only to hide the laughter from her Aunt and Uncle when they accused her of doing a prank. Hiding her facial expression in this instance was much more difficult than anything Journey had ever attempted before, but after a few moments Journey felt her face relax and realized that she had at least been partially successful in her endeavour to appear nonchalant.

"First order of business," Professor Snape said quietly, "is Quidditch tryouts. The Quidditch Captain Marcus Flint will be posting the dates for tryouts some time before the end of next week on the board by the door so do _not_ come asking me about them.

"Secondly, I would like to reveal who will be invited to the extra Potions class I will be running as I do every year. All students in N.E.W.T. Potions are welcome, along with those students in fifth year who wish to go into that level of Potions study. All students who took the class in first year last year will be invited back since all of you performed adequately on last year's exams."

At this point, several of the upper years suddenly lent forward, including the boy sitting in the corner. Journey had no idea why they were interested since their year had likely already been called, but decided not to focus on it since Professor Snape was still speaking.

"After marking the potions of the first year Slytherins today," Professor Snape said slowly, "I have decided to invite these students to the first year class. They have shown above average to exceptional skill in Potion making, and I intend to improve their skills even further so that the Slytherin House can continue to show Hogwarts that _we_ are the best Potion makers." A slight cheer broke out amongst the upper years, but Professor Snape raised a hand to silence them. "The students that I will be inviting are: Draco Malfoy, Lilith Moon, Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini and…

"…Journey Potter."

Journey was just as shocked as the rest of the Slytherins when Professor Snape announced her name amongst what were known to be the top students in Slytherin first years. Journey didn't think her Potion was anything special, the colour had been off a bit when she finished it, but apparently Professor Snape thought her Potion making skills were 'above average'. A couple of students turned slightly so that they could look at Journey subtly with a shocked expression, making Journey have to fight to keep a neutral face at their sudden scrutiny.

"Now," Professor Snape said sharply, bringing all of the attention back onto him. "It is time for the first years to formally introduce themselves to the house. I want all of the first years to make a line in front of the fire place alphabetically by last names, meaning Miss Bulstrode will go first."

For a moment, Journey just stood there with a stunned look on her face. _'No one told me about this,'_ Journey thought as she forced her expression to go blank while she walked to the front of the room. _'Which means they either forgot to tell me… or they are trying to test me somehow.'_

Journey was thankful that she was near the end of the line since that meant she had time to think about what she was going to say. _'I've got to be really careful how I present myself,'_ Journey thought as she listened to Crabbe mumble his way through his speech. _'I have a really strong _feeling_ that this introduction can completely make or break me as a Slytherin… but I think that there's something beyond just this introduction that is related to that. The introduction will just… lead to my way that will lead me to thriving as a Slytherin? Gah, these feelings make no sense!'_

Knowing that her _feelings _weren't going to help her right now, Journey ignored them as she listened and observed how the other first years presented themselves. Most of the girls went for charming introductions, but Journey wouldn't know how to act charmingly even if her life depended on it at the moment, which it kind of did. The other option most Slytherins were going for was a slightly snobbish attitude while not being over the top, which was surprising to Journey since she thought Draco or Pansy didn't know how to be anything _but_ snobbish.

There was one thing all of the first years had in common however: all of them mentioned their families. Journey didn't know if she should mention her family since pretty much all of her family that she knew of were Gryffindors, the self-proclaimed archenemies of the Slytherin House.

Before Journey realized it, Pansy stepped back and it was Journey's turn to introduce herself. Slowly taking a step forward, Journey took a moment to survey the collection of Slytherins before her as she tried to collect her nerves so that she wouldn't make a fool of herself in front of her House. In the back corner of the room, Journey saw the boy sitting their nod either approvingly or encouragingly, Journey couldn't be sure from this far away. Nevertheless, Journey felt emboldened by the action and started her small speech.

"My name is Journey Potter," Journey said with only a slight shake to her voice. "My parents were James and Lilly Potter. They were considered to be some of the brightest students to ever attend Hogwarts and were Masters of the subjects they specialized in. My twin brother is Harry Potter, the only known survivor of the Killing Curse.

"Up until this year, my brother and I were hidden away from the Magical World for safety reasons, and only this summer were we formally introduced back into this world. We have been working very hard to make sure that we lived up not only to the public's expectations, but to our parents memory as we plan to be the next pair of students to be considered the brightest Witch and Wizard of our age."

Journey stepped back and released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She had no idea where some of those words, or the knowledge behind them, had come from, but Journey didn't care since she was just glad it was over. In the back of the room, the same boy who had nodded to her earlier stood up from his seat and ran a hand through his hair.

Journey wondered about that boy. _'I have a _feeling_ that he is very important…'_ Journey thought as Blaise began his speech. _'I can't tell why, but I know that I need him to approve of me for some reason…'_

Journey was pulled out of her confused thoughts by the sound of Professor Snape's cool voice.

"Thank you, Mr. Zabini," Professor Snape said smoothly. "I am sure that your fellow Slytherins are just as… delighted to have all of you as new additions to the noble house of Slytherin as I am. I have utmost confidence that all of you will uphold the pride of Slytherin house and remain true to the principles and values of what it means to be a Slytherin. Should any of you fall short of these standards, the consequences will be most… unpleasant."

Journey couldn't help but feel that at least part of that speech was either directed to her, or about her. Journey wasn't that great at picking up double meanings behind words, but even she could hear the warning directed to those who didn't follow the rules, official and unofficial, of being a Slytherin. Journey couldn't help but think of all the dark looks other Slytherins had been giving her for sitting at the Gryffindor table, and wondered if that was a rule as well.

'_I don't care even if it is,'_ Journey thought defiantly as some of the older Slytherins gave her calculated looks. _'Family ties are more important than any stupid rule that some idiot made up hundreds of years ago.'_

"I shall take my leave of you now," Professor Snape said quietly. "Curfew will soon be in effect and I do not want any from my house losing points for being out late so I expect all of you to be heading to your rooms soon. Good night."

After one last sweeping gaze of his black eyes, Professor Snape turned on his heel and walked out of the Slytherin Common Room with his robes billowing out behind him. Journey and the other first years were still facing the rest of the house, and Journey felt slightly nervous under the gaze of so many people.

For a long moment, no one moved. Then, unexpectedly, Draco turned to address Journey.

"Potter, how could you possibly be good enough to be in Professor Snape's private Potions class?" Draco asked with a baffled look on his face. "I could tell by the way you were working at your station that you'd never even _seen_ a potion before, never mind actually brewed one. There was no way your potion could have been good enough to merit joining the advanced class."

The eyes of the entire Slytherin house were on Journey now as they waited for her to respond to Draco's question. Before Journey could answer, Pansy spoke up.

"And why are you sitting at the Gryffindor table?" Pansy said with a sneer. "Is the Slytherin House not good enough for you that you have to sit with those buffoons?"

"She was sitting with her brother," Blaise snapped, surprising Journey with his willingness to come to her defense. "It's something siblings tend to do. Theo sits with his brother occasionally as well so I don't see the problem with it."

Journey gently laid a hand on Blaise's arm from where he had stepped to be level with her. For a second, Blaise looked confused by the action before he nodded in understanding.

'_While it's nice that at least one of my friends will defend me,'_ Journey thought as she turned to face Draco and Pansy fully, _'…Some battles I need to fight on my own.'_

"While Blaise is right," Journey said almost pleasantly to Pansy, "I _do_ find that some of the company to be found in the Slytherin house to be… lacking." As Journey said this there were gasps and narrowed eyes all around the Slytherin house. "This factor of the Slytherin house is largely the minority, and the reason I choose not to sit with them is because they tend to have the intelligence level as a troll… and surprisingly enough they tend to look like trolls as well."

Smothered giggles from several girls were heard about the room as well as a few chuckles from some of the boys. Everyone knew who Journey was referring to and apparently they had thought similar thoughts in the past but had never mentioned it to those they were referring to.

While Pansy tried to figure out if Journey's insult was directed at her or not, Journey turned her attention to Draco.

"I don't know why I was chosen for the advanced Potions class," Journey said honestly. "To be completely honest I had never seen a potion before today. I've done a lot of preparing for that class, along with my other classes, so that's probably why my potion was deemed acceptable enough for me to be considered for the advanced class."

"Your potion couldn't have been good enough," Draco protested. "You didn't even look close to finishing when I left."

"Why don't you ask Professor Snape," a voice said from behind Journey. "He _is_ a Potions Master and knows much more about the subject than you could ever dream of. As he is not here right now, however, I can tell you that I saw Miss Potter's potion and thought that it was likely to be one of the best in the class even though I had nothing to compare it to."

Journey whirled around. Standing there with a nonchalant air as he crossed his arms across his chest was none other than the boy who had been sitting in the corner of the room earlier. Now that he was up close, Journey could tell that the boy was very tall and had broad shoulders. The boy's dark brown hair had a sort of windswept look to it and contrasted sharply with his aqua-blue eyes that had an amused look to them despite his offhand attitude.

All around the room, whispers broke out. Those who weren't whispering stared in shocked awe at the boy standing in front of Journey or would alternate looking back and forth between Journey and the boy in bewilderment. The boy's crossed arms changed slightly from being nonchalant to smug, as did the smirk on his face, at the reaction his words – or maybe it was his presence? – had caused.

Journey turned back to say something to Draco, only to find that he too was gaping at the tall boy in a very fish-like impersonation.

"Miss Potter," the boy started speaking again, drawing Journey's attention back to him. "May I have a word with you… preferably in private?"

More gasps were heard around the room, and Journey could only nod her head slowly as she tried to understand just what she was missing that could cause such a reaction.

At her nod, the boy's smirk changed almost to a smile before he turned and walked confidently out of the Slytherin Common Room. Journey was a little bit hesitant to follow him, especially since Professor Snape told them curfew was so soon and that they shouldn't be out, but Blaise gave Journey a gentle nudge in the direction of the exit that was hard enough that Journey had to keep walking in order to keep her footing. Journey was dearly tempted to turn back and ask Blaise what the bloody hell was going on, but figured that such actions would be taken as 'weakness' so she reluctantly decided not to. Instead, Journey walked with her back straight and her head held high as she exited the Common Room.

The boy was waiting for Journey when the wall closed up behind her. Before Journey could open her mouth to ask just what was going on, the boy turned around and started walking down the hall. Journey was extremely confused and if weren't for the fact that she _knew_ that following this boy could change her life for the better, Journey would have turned around and walked right back into the Common Room. Instead, Journey followed the strange boy out of the dungeons and to a different part of the castle.

After several minutes of travelling in silence, Journey decided to voice some of her thoughts. Journey was planning on asking an intelligent question so as not to sound like an idiot in front of the older Slytherin, but instead she blurted out, "Didn't Professor Snape say that it was curfew and that we were supposed to be heading to our rooms?"

Journey instantly flushed scarlet both from the boy's chuckle at her question, and for sounding like a whiny child in front of someone who was obviously an important member of the Slytherin House. _'Great,'_ Journey thought as she looked away from the boy's amused eyes. _'Not even five minutes with someone I _know_ could completely change my life and he's already laughing at me.'_

"You are truly different from any other Slytherin I've met," the boy said so softly, Journey thought she heard him wrong. Before Journey could ask what he meant, the boy continued to speak. "I wished to speak with you at length on several topics of varying importance. Others might have gotten the wrong idea if I talked to you about them alone in my room for an extended period of time."

"What ideas?" Journey asked before she could help herself. "What did you want to talk to me about? Why _me_? Who _are_ you anyways? The entire common room was going nuts when you spoke up, so I have a feeling that you talking to me is a big deal, but I don't know why… and if you are talking to me for a long time outside of curfew, won't we get in trouble by Professor Snape? He clearly said that he expected all of us to be heading to our rooms since we can't be out after curfew."

Journey knew that her questions were all over the place, but she couldn't help it. When Journey's 'Ravenclaw side' (Harry's words not hers) took over, Journey would ask question after question in an attempt to learn everything that could be learnt, even if the questions made no logical order were slightly chaotic.

"I'll start with the easiest questions first," the boy said with chuckle, making Journey's blush return with a vengeance as she remembered that she was dealing with a Slytherin upper year and had likely embarrassed herself…again. "My name is Selwyn, Jason Selwyn. The reason everyone back in the Common Room 'went nuts' was because it _is_ a big deal for me to speak with you. Being approached by anyone in the Selwyn family, especially in Hogwarts, is a very rare occurrence… for reasons that will become clear to you later. It's an even bigger deal since you're a first year and had yet to formally distinguish yourself from your classmates… until today that is.

"Why you? Well, there's a couple of reasons to that. Not all of them are entirely pure intentions but I'd ask that you listen to what I have to offer you before you turn me away."

"What do you mean, 'not entirely pure intentions'?" Journey asked suspiciously, instantly bringing her guard up.

Selwyn laughed. "Nothing too bad, I promise. I'll tell you what they are and what I wanted to talk to you about when we get to our destination. As to curfew, if you listened closely to what Professor Snape said, you would have realized that he said that he didn't want us to lose _points_ for being out late, not that he didn't want us to not come out at all. Professor Snape gives us Slytherins a lot of freedom to do what we want if you listen to his instructions carefully enough, but you just have to make sure you don't get caught. Professor Snape _hates_ when we lose points for Slytherin."

Journey nodded. It made sense for the head of Slytherin house to promote trying to be sneaky while not getting caught. Journey thought about all of Selwyn's answers when she realized something.

"You didn't tell me what people would get ideas about," Journey accused.

Selwyn flashed a smirk in Journey's direction. "You caught that, did ya? You'll figure it out when you're older."

Normally, Journey would have pressed Selwyn for answers but she didn't want to risk having him not tell her anything at all. For once in her life, Journey kept her mouth shut for once when knowledge was concerned_. 'Plus'_, Journey thought to herself, '_I've already embarrassed myself a few times in front of Selwyn… I don't want to add another occurrence to the list if I can help it.'_

They walked for what seemed like forever to Journey. They went up staircases, down others, through uncounted hallways and past hundreds of portraits. Journey's feet were beginning to feel sore when they went up yet _another_ spiral staircase, but she said nothing.

Selwyn finally stopped at a statue of a Merman sitting on a rock. It was not anything like Journey expected a Merman to look like, besides the finned tail of course. Journey couldn't tell the actual colour of the creature, since the entire statue was made out of solid, dark gray stone, but she knew from the way the tail met the rest of the body that its entire body would be the same colour as the tail. The Merman's hair was incredibly long, and stringy, reminding Journey of seaweed as it tucked behind the Merman's slightly flat, pointed ears. Equally flat was the Merman's nose, drawing attention to the creature's overly large, circular eyes that seemed to follow Journey as she moved. The creature's thin lips were set in a permanent look of displeasure which, along with the spiny projections coming out of the back of its arms and its actual back, made Journey extremely apprehensive to approach even the statue of such a creature. The huge spear it was holding in its left hand may have also contributed to Journey's nervousness around the statue, just a bit.

Selwyn shared none of Journey's apprehension and confidently walked up to the statue. When he got close to the statue, Selwyn whipped out his wand and muttered, "_**Aguamenti**_."

Journey watched, amazed, as a stream of water suddenly rushed out of the tip of Selwyn's wand and poured onto the statue. To Journey's immense surprise, the statue's colour changed from gray to greenish-blue with the hair at the tips and eyes taking more of an orange colour. Journey was even more surprised when the statue suddenly started to _move_.

With a twirl of its menacing spear and a snarl building in his throat the Merman turned its head towards Selwyn, who had cancelled his spell the moment the statue started to move. When the Merman spotted Selwyn, it started to let our harsh screeching noises. Journey thought that the thing was trying to give away where they were, but was proven wrong when Selwyn responded with the same screech-like sounds.

'_They're talking to each other,'_ Journey thought in wonderment, as the Merman started screeching again when Selwyn had pointed in her direction. _'That's so… wicked!'_

Although Journey dearly wanted to, she did not say anything to Selwyn as he spoke to the Merman since even _she_ knew it would be rude. After what seemed like forever, the Merman suddenly turned and struck the wall behind him with the tip of his spear. Journey jumped at the sudden action, causing Selwyn to laugh at her again.

"Let's go," Selwyn said as he started walking behind the Merman, who had turned back into a statue after hitting the wall.

Journey was confused why Selwyn would be walking behind a statue and was about to voice her thoughts when Journey noticed the outline of a door that had definitely not been there before. _'When did that get there?'_ Journey wondered.

Selwyn seemed oblivious to Journey's confusion as he opened the previously nonexistent door, allowing a little bit of light to pour from the opening into the dark hallway.

"You coming?" Selwyn asked when he noticed Journey wasn't following him.

Journey took a hesitant step forward, eyeing the statue to make sure that it wouldn't start moving again and attack her.

"Where did that door come from?" Journey asked suspiciously, still watching the statue for any sudden movements (that spear looked very sharp). "Where does it lead to? Why are we going there?"

"You're suspicious," Selwyn said in a strangely approving tone. "…Good. That means you don't blindly follow what others tell you. Jamarion – sorry the Merman – is the guardian of this door. It's a secret passed down by the Selwyn family, although a few others have discovered it throughout the years… mostly accidentally to be honest."

Journey stopped walking. "Won't your family be angry at you for showing me this? If it's a family secret, aren't you not allowed to tell me?"

"They won't be angry," Selwyn said with a smirk. "If everything works out how I want it to, they'll be so happy with me they won't care that I'm telling you about a hidden room in Hogwarts. Besides, it's not _our_ room, it's just a room that we have discovered and kept to ourselves about through the generations. So are you coming or not?"

Not needing to be told a third time, Journey quickly scurried around the Merman statue and followed Selwyn through the open door. As soon as Journey caught sight of the entire room however, Journey stopped short.

The first thing Journey noticed was the bookcases. At least 20 bookcases lined two of the walls the same colour as the sky on a cloudless day. Where there were no bookcases, magnificent tapestries of magical creatures hung against the wall, along with the odd empty portrait frame. The wall opposite of the door had a massive window, currently only letting in the starlight, that went from floor to ceiling and which took up almost the entire wall horizontally except where it was broken up twice by swaths of dark blue curtains tied back by golden ropes. Against the wall on Journey's right was a giant stone fireplace which was already lit, casting a warm glow onto the three sea green couches and the oak table that sat between the couches as they faced the fire.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

Journey was so distracted by the beauty of the room that she completely forgot that Selwyn was also in the room until he spoke up. Turning to where Selwyn was standing near the fireplace, Journey blushed when she realized the boy was smirking at her with his bright eyes alight in silent laughter. To hide her embarrassment, Journey swiftly looked away from Selwyn and walked over to sit on one of the couches.

Journey didn't know why she was feeling so nervous around Selwyn. Normally, Journey didn't really care what anyone else thought of her – a side effect of growing up with the Dursleys, she'd had been driven to depression years ago if she took every insult to heart – but for some strange reason, the boy was getting under Journey's skin and making her feel even childish despite the fact he was only a few years older than her. Journey didn't know if was because of the _feeling_ she was getting about him that made her feel nervous, that he was really important to her future and she didn't want to anything screw up. Journey's felt her nervousness also could have been because of the fact that he was a Slytherin upper year and was actually being nice to her as opposed to always glaring at her that made her feel like she had to live up to whatever expectations he had.

No matter the reason, something about Selwyn made Journey feel like how a person with two left feet would feel as he tried to dance in a room full of ballerinas: extremely awkward and embarrassed as she tried to imitate what she had seen but never could and always seemed just to embarrass herself by trying to keep up with those way out of her league.

Selwyn sat down on the couch opposite to Journey but said nothing as he simply stared into the roaring fire. Journey fidgeted nervously for a bit as she waited for Selwyn to say something but as time passed and Selwyn still said nothing, Journey began to feel tiredness begin to creep into her system as the day caught up with her and the fidgeting slowly stopped.

Journey had only just closed her eyes for a moment when she felt a gentle 'brush' across her mind, similar to caress but not quite as gentle. Instantly, Journey's emerald eyes snapped open and were met with Selwyn's aqua-coloured eyes as he stared at her intently from where he was sitting on the couch.

"So it is true," Selwyn whispered quietly. "You do know some Occlumency. Such a rare talent, especially for one as young as yourself."

Journey blinked in confusion. "Occlu – what?"

"Don't try and lie to me," Selwyn said as he narrowed his eyes, all humour and thoughtfulness vanishing from his face as he spoke austerely to Journey. "Just now, you reacted when you felt a presence encounter your mind, even if you did not try to defend. I know you know at least some Occlumency, even if you are trying to pretend you don't."

Journey knew that she shouldn't talk back to an older Slytherin, but she was not one to take assumptions against her lightly. At the Dursleys, Journey was never able to do anything about it but now that she had the freedom to stand up for herself Journey was not going to let anyone walk over her.

"Listen," Journey said in a sharp tone, making Selwyn raise an eyebrow at her boldness, "I have no idea what this 'Occ-lo-mensy' stuff is, but I can tell you right now that I don't know one bit of it. All I know is that I felt something weird brush against my mind, so I opened my eyes to see what was going on since I'd felt something like it before and I wanted to know what it was."

"It's Occlumency," Selwyn said absently, his mind elsewhere. "And you're lucky that I am more lenient than others when it comes to following protocol and Slytherin politics. Most others might have taken that as a challenge to their intelligence. Not a battle you want to start when you just admitted that you don't know what you're talking about."

Journey nodded her head in acknowledgment but did not say anything in way of an apology since she wanted to make sure Selwyn knew that he was wrong in assuming she knew any Occlumency.

After a few moments of silence Selwyn suddenly started to laugh, shocking Journey.

"You've got fire," Selwyn said after his laughter had died down, "I'll give you that. Want to learn how to use it without getting burned?"

**HPJPHPJPHPJPHPJPHPJP**

**amethystdreamstar: 12000 words! :D**

**Thanks so much to MarkerBarker78 and brickbusterx for their reviews. I'd also like to thank Nelson for reviewing every single chapter besides the last, you're totally awesome! It seems like you three are the only people who actually read this story since you are the only ones who review :P**

**Not to sound whiny or anything, but I'd really appreciate if more people would let me know what they think about this story. I cannot improve at all if no one tells me where I made mistakes or need improvement, and I feel that if no one reviews that they think this story is not even worth the time of a review. I really hope that that's not the case.**

**Onto other things.**

**What does Selwyn want with Journey?**

**Who will Journey meet in the next chapter?**

**Will Journey ever see the twins again?**

**Those are just some questions that I want you to wonder about and maybe even tell me your own ideas since I might be able to incorporate it into the story!**

**amethystdreamstar (or, Sapphire Fire Stone which was my old penname, may be changing to to a combination of the two soon)**

**June 8, 2012**


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